Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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398. To ask the Minister for Health the way in which offers of outsourcing for scoliosis corrective surgery are made; his views on whether the method of offering outsourcing is allowing parents to make informed decisions regarding the outsourcing of their children's care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27887/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The long-term strategy to develop sustainable scoliosis services has been prioritised by my Department and the HSE in the 2018 HSE National Service Plan. An additional €9 million has been provided to the HSE in 2018 specifically to develop paediatric orthopaedic services, including further increasing access to scoliosis services. The Children's Hospital Group (CHG) is committed to a two-year service development plan to implement an orthopaedic service that provides timely access for Outpatient and In-Patient services. The HSE has confirmed that as part of this plan it will maintain the 4-month target in 2018 and beyond, which is international best practice, for all patients who are clinically deemed to require surgery now.

Firm foundations were laid last year in addressing issues with scoliosis services and efforts were focused primarily on legacy issues and a backlog on the waiting list. The CHG has advised that this work involved the introduction of a number of short-term measures, including the outsourcing of surgeries abroad.  As part of the outsourcing initiative, 46 surgeries were performed in 2017 at Cappagh and the Mater Hospitals, Stanmore and Portland Hospitals in the UK and St Franziskus Hospital in Germany.  For those patients and their families who opted for overseas treatment, they have had a positive outcome and experience. These contracts are still in place between the HSE and the outsourcing hospitals for 2018.

In addition to outsourcing surgeries to specialist centres in the UK and in Europe, other initiatives introduced resulted in an increase in public capacity in terms of additional theatre sessions at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin (Crumlin), Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital (Cappagh) and the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (Mater). 

In 2017, 22 patients opted to remain on the Crumlin list with their treating consultant rather than taking up offers of other treatment options in Ireland and overseas.  Some of these patients have now had their surgery and others are continuously under review in relation to a treatment plan.   

The CHG plan for the year ahead, in partnership with clinicians and all other stakeholders, is to drive further progress in reducing waiting times by developing a long-term sustainable and safe paediatric model of care for paediatric orthopaedic services which will ensure that clinical criteria will determine the timeframe for the delivery of care. In this regard I look forward to the launch and publication of the Paediatric Orthopaedic Action Plan 2018 on the 12th July.

In relation to the manner in which offers of outsourcing are made to families, as this is a service issue, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly.