As the Health Service Executive (HSE) attempts to address governance concerns in its children’s orthopaedic services, the announcement that more children require clinical review is unwelcome news to both health officials and families alike.
The latest in a series of reports into the speciality, the HSE on Wednesday provided an update on the ongoing review into orthopaedic surgery by independent expert Prof Selvadurai Nayagam, a retired orthopaedic consultant from Liverpool.
The first phase of the review, which focuses on the work of Connor Green, an orthopaedic surgeon who has been on extended leave since 2023, has been completed – 2½ years after it was commissioned. Green was contacted for comment through his solicitor.
The second phase, focusing on systems of governance, is expected to be completed by the end of this year, at which point the findings of both phases are anticipated to be published.
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The HSE, rightly, said it is acting on the recommendation to follow up with 62 children now rather than waiting for the conclusion of the full report. The HSE said it is a precautionary measure rather than an urgent concern.
But with the vagueness around the findings of the first phase of the report, and promises they will be revealed upon completion of the second phase, families say they are left with many questions.
Adding to this, the HSE announced it was expanding its review into more of Green’s patients, examining surgeries carried out between 2016 and 2023, including all spinal, limb reconstruction and surgical dislocation of the hip.
The HSE was at pains to stress that governance in Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) since the concerns were first raised has improved “significantly”.
But what does this mean for patients covered in the review? For the 62 patients who will be clinically reviewed, the HSE has said they will be contacted this week, with the intention of completing these reviews by the end of next month.
Lucy Nugent, chief executive of CHI, said the organisation’s current 16 consultant orthopaedic surgeons are “fully committed to supporting every element of the look-back process”, while Angela Lee, chief executive of the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh, said the majority of patients are “already in a follow-up process”.
The goal of these reports and reviews are to restore both public and professional confidence in a vital healthcare service. But for many families, it is having the opposite effect; each report or briefing is serving as a further knock to patient trust.
With news of a wider look-back, the question on every parent’s lips whose child has had surgery by Green is: are there concerns about the care my child received, too?
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