Temple street hospital using unauthorised devices

call me cynical but they only started another enquiry so they wouldnt have to comment until that was finished.

I don't think this will go away easily.

I have never protested for anything but I'd march for this.

Those poor children already dealt a crap hand in life without some "God" thinking they're above rules and regulations.

Well tbh I can only speak for myself but I'd be expecting the parents of all Spina bifida and scoliosis to be organising protests and the rest of us to then join in.

If they don't make the noise it looks like they are happy with the way things are progressing.

Guaranteed if this was hip/knee replacement you'd have the grey brigade taking to the streets.

It has to be the group impacted leading the way.

There's no privatisation angle like there was with cervical check which got a lot of political noise made about it in that scandal.

Plus absolutely everybody involved in this one has well lawyered up so don't expect fast answers.

This also describes it.

If you went up to an Aer Lingus maintenance hanger, each part, from, a screw, spring, flap up to a stabiliser…. Has a part number, batch number and serial number… the parts are made by approved manufacturers. You cannot go to Homebase and buy xyz..

on any given day a member of the IAA can turn up, unannounced, demand to go through stock inventory, maintenance records as well as observation of work ongoing or that has been completed. Anomalies have serious repercussions, colossal fines, …if you so much as tell him / her to take a seat while you ask the boss, you’ll be in serious trouble. They have to be allowed to walk in unannounced like they own the place, access everything straight away…

why is it not the same for medical professionals ? Medical businesses and services ? Can a state medical auditor not walk into a hospital, access independently the designated storage area for medical tools, parts and devices.. ensuring that…parts are stored correctly, staging area labeled correctly, area is secured, access is controlled….AND check each device / part ensuring the correct labels and documentation are present with each ? A bag of X parts sitting in a plastic bag, minus a label or paperwork and ..investigation, corrective actions and a fine…. Surely that is common sense…

The Temple St scandal is just the tip of one iceberg and there are multiple icebergs. At least Temple St. is getting some attention as the idea of implanting industrial grade springs into children is horrific on a visceral level.

It goes so far beyond temple St or even A&E. Major problems everywhere - primary care, community services, homecare, nursing homes, ambulance service, outpatients, elective care. I'm dealing with all of this myself as my relative has dementia and other conditions and as they cannot advocate for themselves, I have to do it. The chaos, ineptitude and unprofessionalism that I constantly encounter is staggering. I have made several formal complaints about obvious and fixable issues (e.g. non existent communication from a particular HSE office) the HSE complaints officer agreed with me that what I had experienced was unacceptable and said it would be sorted. Nothing has changed. This is just one small example.

The Irish health service is like a house that had a unstable roof for decades with nobody thinking about what might happen if a major storm hit it. The major storm (Covid, increased population) has now hit and the house is starting to subside as well.

I’ll try to answer my own question because I’ve seen no good answer anywhere, Please correct my speculative answer if you actually know something about the case.

• The tragic problems of children with spinal problems reached crisis levels some years ago as these children were left waiting in agony for years. Pressure was growing for an urgent solution
• Temple St. is the “centre of excellence” for this issue (until the NCH is built😫), The surgeon there decided, in response to intense pressure, to use an experimental technique developed in the Netherlands. He explained the risks to the patients and their parents who agreed to proceed. The technique involved the use of springs but the EU has not yet approved any such device. Obviously, everyone on the medical team dealing with this surgery understood that this was an experimental technique.
• Some (many?) of the patients suffered grave complications. One died. The parents sought legal advice. The obstacle to any legal action was that consent had been given to these procedures. But the use of uncertified springs was not mentioned to the parents explicitly. So that opened the door to legal action and it has become the focus of the controversy.

i am saying the opposite- that the parents agreed to the procedure but weren’t specifically told that the EU had not approved the springs for use,

That is what is meant by “experimental”

But what if the parents had been told? How many years would you want your child to writhe in agony in order that the spring had EU approval?