Concern over closure of Tallaght Hospital review clinic which will affect 8,000 children

Up to 8,000 children in West Dublin who have their broken bones treated in Tallaght Hospital will not be able to have them reviewed in the hospital.

Prior to close of business, a child who has a fracture will have an x-ray, be put in cast if necessary, and be referred to Tallaght’s outpatient paediatric department to have the cast removed some weeks later. If necessary, a face-to-face appointment with a consultant would also be scheduled.

From today, all children that would be so treated will now be referred to Crumlin’s Accident and Emergency department, which the Irish Patients Association said will have immediate impact on its workload.

In a statement to The Echo earlier, Tallaght Hospital said: “The regrettable decision to suspend this outpatient service has been made in the best interest of patient safety.

“We wish to apologise to patients and their families for any inconvenience this causes to them.

“The outpatient trauma service at Tallaght was being delivered by a Locum Consultant.

“This contract has now ceased and despite the best efforts of hospital management, it has not proved possible to maintain this service in the short term due to recruitment challenges.”

The statement continued: “The Hospital is actively working with the Children’s Hospital Group and the other paediatric hospitals to provide a sustainable safe paediatric orthopaedic trauma service with two new orthopaedic consultants due to commence employment within the Group later this summer.”

However, Triona Murphy, Chair of the Tallaght Hospital Action Group (THAG), has expressed the action group’s concerns over the suspension of the review clinic – which she believes does not bode well for the future of the service in Tallaght, or the staffing of the new paediatric satellite clinic planned.

“This issue has been going on for years and it’s a case of history repeating itself”, Ms Murphy said.

“We have seen parts of services removed from Tallaght in the past, which never returned and resulted in the whole service eventually being removed.

“This development will have massive implications not just on Tallaght but on the other children’s hospitals – especially Crumlin which is out the door.

“And, most importantly, kids have been left completely in the lurch.”

She added: “It’s bizarre that one consultant couldn’t be employed to keep the service in Tallaght.

“The CEO of Tallaght Hospital [David Slevin] had contacted the action group to inform us of the issues with the fracture clinic and that he was working hard to sort it.

“However, I don’t believe this issue lies with Tallaght Hospital.

“The book stops with the CEO of the new Children’s Hospital board, Ms Eilish Hardiman – who was tasked with integrating children’s services.”

If you or someone you know have been affected by the suspension of the review clinic, and would like to speak to the Echo to highlight the issue please get in touch with us on 01-4685350 or email news@echo.ie