Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this very important debate on Children's Health Ireland. First, I want to acknowledge the 4,000 staff in the group who do outstanding work on a daily basis. However, the organisation itself is dysfunctional, it is in crisis, and it has experienced a litany of failures. This has led to a series of reviews and reports.

The most recent HIQA report, a statutory report carried out under section 8 of the Health Act 2007, dealt with three areas: governance at the hospital group; the use of implantable medical devices; and the use of non-medical grade springs in spinal surgery at Temple Street. The results of the report were that children were not protected from harm at the hospital, and the use of non-medical grade springs in spinal surgery is, fact, damning. The procurement, use and implementation of these non-medical springs, apparently without any knowledge, oversight or control, is hardly believable.

As someone who has a little experience in hospital management having worked for 21 years with the South Eastern Health Board as a hospital administrator in south Tipperary in two general hospitals and three district hospitals, I found the report hard reading and difficult. I was shocked by the report. Indeed, I am sure the public and the parents of children who used the hospital must find the report devastating. The report, in fact, paints a picture of organised chaos in the hospital. The public, parents, patients and staff at the hospital have been very badly let down by the board of Children's Hospital Ireland. There has been a significant and inexplicable failure of governance at the hospital.

The HIQA report commences with organisational and transformative change from November 2018. The report found that the "governance arrangements were overly complex and placed an onerous and unrealistic workload on clinical directors and senior managers." Reporting and oversight arrangements were unclear, clinical governance structures were "complex", accountability suffered and the oversight of the delivery of care was completely unsatisfactory. The report goes on to state: "The lack of standardisation in newly developing structures resulted in unclear lines of reporting and accountability ... to ensure the safe introduction and use of ... [procedures at the hospital]."

I believe that the board of Children's Health Ireland should stand down or be stood down. We cannot have confidence in the board arranging for the transfer of services to the new children's hospital. That is an important issue. It is important that the staffing arrangements for the new hospital are put in place early. The Fórsa trade union has called for immediate and meaningful engagement with Children's Health Ireland to ensure a comprehensive workforce plan and a viable staffing strategy.

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