Top surgeon raised concerns about €19m scoliosis surgery fund in 2022

A LEADING surgeon raised concerns about how the misspent €19m scoliosis surgery fund was being allocated in November 2022.

It comes as a second advocacy group run by parents of kids waiting for surgery calls for the Board of Children’s Health Ireland to be sacked following the revelation that the majority of the €19m was not spent on scoliosis operations.

Dr Connor Green – who is at the centre of an investigation into spinal surgeries at Temple Street Hospital – told RTE in 2022 that resources were not being allocated to spinal surgeries.

Just months after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly allocated the €19m for spinal operations, Dr Green said he was frustrated that the money did not seem to be allocated for surgeries.

He said: “Minister Donnelly is extremely supportive so I don’t know where the problem is.

“And yet the resources that everyone wants to give to Cappagh and Temple Street aren’t being put in there.”

In response to these concerns at the time, Minister Donnelly said that he had been reassured at meetings with CHI that “the money is being spent and critically what that means more and more children are getting the services that they need which is ultimately all that matters”.

However, last week a furious Minister Donnelly told the Seanad that he has been made aware that the majority of the €19 spinal surgery fund has been spent elsewhere by CHI.

He later told the Dail that he demanded answers about where the money was spent but the Board of CHI refused to provide him with clarity.

As a result, the Minister ordered the HSE’s internal audit team to probe CHI’s account with a final report on the €19m spending due in the coming weeks.

However, the revelation that the €19m fund has been misspent has sparked fury among parents whose children are waiting for operations.

Last week, we reported how the Scoliosis Advocacy Network has called for the Board of Children’s Health Ireland to be sacked over the controversy.

A second advocacy group called OrthoKids Ireland – which represents families of children needing orthopaedic care – are calling for the Board and the leadership of CHI to be axed.

The group, which claims to represent 3,000 families, said: “The parents are demanding this action due to the consistent failure of the Board and Executive to fulfil their duties of corporate governance, including the mismanagement of allocated funds, failure to provide necessary services, and neglect of the children’s well-being.”

The group also wants to see Dr Connor Green reinstated.

Dr Green is currently on leave while an investigation is carried out into use of unauthorised springs in spinal surgeries at Temple Street Hospital.

In February , another paediatric consultant Prof Damian McCormack wrote to hospital bosses urging them to bring Dr Green back to work in order to tackle waiting lists.

Dr Green is regarded as the only surgeon with suitable experience to carry out some of the most complex orthopaedic operations.

While he is unable to work in Ireland, Dr Greene is volunteering in Ukraine where he is teaching reconstructive surgery for those injured in the war.

*An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Dr Green raised his concerns at the Oireachtas Health Committee. He made the comment in a report with RTE.