Children's Health Ireland to be subsumed into HSE, as parents' groups want answers over 'u-turn'

"As we move towards the opening of the National Children's Hospital Ireland, we need to plan for integrated paediatric healthcare and the policy direction for Children's Health Ireland. The National Children's Hospital Ireland will be the central hub in the network of paediatric care with links to regional paediatric units, operated overwhelmingly by the HSE. Accordingly, I have decided to integrate CHI into the HSE structure."

"The background of CHI was the integration of three very different paediatric hospitals with a view to moving to a single dedicated specialist paediatric hospital. We are very close to that hospital being delivered and operational and it is therefore time to further integrate paediatric care formally into the HSE. CHI has been at the centre of controversies in recent years over the care of children undergoing spinal surgeries, waiting lists for scoliosis patients and misuse of funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund."

"in April, after the damning Hiqa report into children's spinal surgeries the Taoiseach Micheal Martin stood on the floor of the Dail and said he backed the CHI board. Just five months on, the whole organisation is being subsumed into the HSE a complete u-turn by the Government. What has been discovered that led to this decision? There needs to be transparency."

Children's Health Ireland (CHI), which oversees three paediatric hospitals, will be integrated into the Health Service Executive (HSE) over several years. The National Children's Hospital Ireland will be the central hub in a network of paediatric care linked to regional units largely operated by the HSE. CHI began as a merger of three different paediatric hospitals intended to move to a single specialist hospital, which is now nearing delivery. CHI has faced controversies over spinal surgery care, scoliosis waiting lists and alleged misuse of National Treatment Purchase Fund money. Dr Yvonne Traynor was appointed CHI chair and Fergus Finlay and Suzanne Garvey joined the board. Advocacy groups demanded transparency and questioned the government's reversal after a Hiqa report.

Read at Irish Independent