Review into work of consultant at centre of spinal surgery controversy widened

A review of spinal surgeries carried out by a consultant at Temple Street has been widened to include non-spinal work carried out as far back as 2016, the HSE has said.

The look-back would include all spinal, limb reconstruction and surgical dislocation of the hip, but not trauma-related or general orthopaedic surgeries.

An independent review has also found that of a sample of 91 children whose surgery was carried out by the consultant, a follow-up was recommended for 62 children – but not due to any “identified urgent risk”.

An independent review is being carried out by Selvadurai Nayagam into elements of paediatric orthopaedic surgeries at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh (NOHC).

The review was ordered in late 2023 due to identified patient safety concerns.

Mr Nayagam, a retired consultant in orthopaedics and trauma in Liverpool, has completed the first phase of his review, which was a risk assessment.

He reviewed the care given to a sample of 91 children whose surgery was carried out by the orthopaedic consultant at the centre of the review.

Mr Nayagam has recommended that 62 of these children receive further clinical follow-up but not out of “any identified urgent risk”.

The families of those children have been contacted, the HSE said.

Mr Nayagam concluded that the remaining children whose cases he reviewed did not require additional clinical follow-up.

Dr Colm Henry, chief clinical officer at the HSE, said the follow-ups were to check if the children had benefited from the surgery.

“These follow-up appointments do not arise from any identified urgent risk or concern about individual patients but are intended to check on the patients’ clinical progress,” he said.

“The purpose is to determine if the intended benefits of these children’s surgery have been achieved.

“In some cases, it may be too early to make that assessment, in which case the relevant children will be reviewed again in future to ensure everything continues to progress as expected.”

The HSE said it would carry out “a wider look-back at the individual consultant’s practice”.

“The lookback will involve a review of the patients on whom the individual consultant performed surgeries between 2016 and 2023,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

“It will include all spinal, limb reconstruction and surgical dislocation of the hip, but not surgeries in the area of trauma and general orthopaedics.

“Details of how this lookback will be implemented are under consideration.”

Lucy Nugent, chief executive of Children’s Health Ireland, said: “I know that news like this will understandably cause worry and concern for families, and I want to acknowledge that sincerely.

“CHI and our current 16 consultant orthopaedic surgeons are fully committed to supporting every element of the look-back process and to being open and transparent with families throughout.

“I want to reassure parents and caregivers that safe orthopaedic care is delivered in CHI every day, by highly skilled and dedicated professionals whose priority is always the wellbeing of children.”

Angela Lee, chief executive of National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh, said: “We acknowledge the understandable worry caused by today’s correspondence and are in the process of scheduling follow-up review appointments for patients impacted by this review.

“The majority of the patients are already in a follow-up process, and we are committed to supporting patients and families in every way we can.”