Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Cullinane and my other colleagues have dealt with the gamut of failure in respect of scoliosis operations, the lack of such operations, the time children lost and the great impact this had. We have also heard about the significant capacity issues there have been and the non-medical grade springs that ended up in three children and the untold impact that had. However, I will deal specifically with those children who may have gone through operations they did not require for hip dysplasia. Thanks to Deputy Cullinane, this issue has been raised with the Minister. Deputy Doherty also brought it up on Leaders' Questions.

I refer to a family in north Louth who just want put on record what could have happened to their daughter, who was with Temple Street from when she was 14 months until she was three years and three months, that is, from 2016 to 2019. A doctor initially did not like creases in the legs and referred her on, which was the right thing to do and part of due diligence. I have here a frightening diagnosis this child got. It says she was three years and three months old and had bilateral acetabular dysplasia, which was more marked on the right than on the left. It is stated that there had not been much improvement over the last few months and that it was recommended to proceed with Salter osteotomies bilaterally. You can imagine what that involves. It requires sawing into her hip bone and reshaping the socket to hold the ball of her joint more securely.

Luckily enough, the father did what I might not have done in the circumstances. I might have just taken on board what the doctor said, but he got a second opinion. This stated that:

On examination, she is a bright, active, young lady who walks well. She has no leg length discrepancy. She has full abduction at the hips. She has no instability. Internal rotation to 80°, external rotation to 60°. She doesn’t hyperextend the knees. She has a nice shape to her foot and ankle.

In her upper limbs, she has no hyperextension at the elbow ...

I have had the opportunity to review her series of x-rays, most recently taken in December 2018 going back to when she was 14-months old.

Initial x-rays I would consider to be normal, the ossific nucleus are both present

As people can guess, the person who gave the second opinion ultimately said there was no need for an operation. That father is obviously very glad that information is with the Minister.

We need to look at a greater level of audit. Obviously, the period between 2021 and 2023 does not look like it will cut it. I reiterate what a number of people said about the huge pain that has been caused by correspondence.

I want to very quickly raise what another one of my constituents brought to me.

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