Three members of the board of Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) resigned on Tuesday morning, after months of controversy at the operator of paediatric healthcare in the State.
CHI was established in 2019 to govern and operate paediatric services in Ireland, and currently operates Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght hospitals. It will also operate the new National Children’s Hospital upon completion.
However, there have been a number of controversies in the hospital, including the implantation of unapproved springs into children with scoliosis; the threshold for hip surgeries; and surgical outcomes for children in the orthopaedic service.
On Tuesday, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said three members of the board resigned from their posts that morning.
“These would be individuals who have worked on the board, worked in volunteer capacity on the board since 2018 and who have provided, you know, a very strong service in bringing the hospitals from where they were, as I said, that historical model run by the religious further,” she said.
“And they have dealt with very challenging circumstances but I think, it’s also important to recognise that they have stepped down this morning, so as I look at the board.”
When questioned if she had asked the people in question to step down, the Minister said that as information became apparent and in particular after the report last week and over the weekend.
“I have made it clear that I have strong questions about the governance of CHI and its direction towards the future,” she said.
“This is something that I’ve referenced a number of times in the Dáil and I’ve said that very clearly we need to have a functional governance structure to enable us to get to the opening of the children’s hospital and to deal with the very many issues in children’s health.“
“I have a different relationship with the CHI board in statute than any other minister really has with most other boards. It is an unusual structure and I don’t have the authority to ask people to step down in the way that you normally might expect.
“I do recognise that there have been resignations this morning and I want to thank those people for the service that they have given to the public because we recognise that these are voluntary positions. And we’re asking people to step out of their other lives to perform a public service in this measure.“
“And can I just say as well as respect boards generally and public service generally, people are taking responsibility for the decisions of individual surgeons. The real accountability question should never be distracted from the decisions of surgeons who are, as in the Hiqa report, where the wrong materials, non-surgical materials were used on the bodies of small children. The HIPP report where surgeons were making, performing surgeries on children that were not clinically indicated or indeed this more later report where surgeons were making decisions.”
Their resignations come following the resignation of the board’s chairman Jim Browne last month after a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) found the implantation of springs into three children with scoliosis was “wrong” and the systems in CHI meant “children were not protected from the risk of harm”.
Ms Carroll MacNeill told RTÉ that she has appointed two members of the HSE board to that of CHI, and there are currently three vacancies which she will fill in a similar manner in the coming weeks.