Families left waiting five hours in Tallaght Hospital before being referred to Crumlin

By Mary Dennehy

AS THE orthopaedic fracture clinic remains closed at the National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght, families are being left waiting in the local hospital for more than five hours before being told to go to Our Lady’s in Crumlin.

Earlier this month, a decision was made to suspend the Trauma Orthopaedic Review Clinic at Tallaght Hospital due to “patient safety” and “recruitment challenges” – after the contract of the locum consultant, who was delivering the outpatient trauma service, ceased.

The decision has impacted on more than 8,000 children in West Dublin who use the service annually, with parents now travelling to Crumlin with children who need a follow-up review or specialised treatment.

Since 2013, Tallaght Hospital has been sending children in need of orthopaedic surgery to Crumlin.

However, young patients not in need of surgery could be treated and reviewed by a consultant at the local hospital.

Michelle Bambury visited Tallaght Hospital with her three-year-old son who had broken his collar-bone last Thursday – and claims she was left waiting for more than five hours before being told to go to Crumlin.

She told The Echo: “I went to my GP and he sent me to Tallaght Hospital.

“My son’s collar-bone was obviously broken and when we got to Tallaght we were triaged and spent five-and-a-half hours there before somebody came and told us that they checked the X-ray and we needed to go to Crumlin.

“At this stage my son was very distressed and I decided that it was best to bring him home rather than make him anymore stressed by travelling to Crumlin after a five-hour wait in Tallaght.

“Parents should not be put in a position where you have to bring your child home even though they haven’t received the treatment and care they need.”

She said: “I went to Crumlin around 11am the next morning and I noticed a stream of people arriving who had been in Tallaght with me the day before.

“In fairness, Crumlin wasn’t too bad, but the whole situation had placed a lot of stress on myself and my son, not to mention the other families who were left waiting.

“This is the season that children break bones and the whole situation has made me really annoyed.
“Families are just being messed about and it’s all because of money, that consultant in Tallaght should have been replaced immediately.”

When contacted by The Echo, Tallaght Hospital said that in the eight days following the suspension of the review clinic that approximately 40 patients were referred to another hospital for follow-up.

A spokesman for Tallaght Hospital said: “Tallaght Hospital would again like to apologise to patients and their families for any inconvenience caused to them during this suspension of service.

“Tallaght Hospital is actively working with the Children’s Hospital Group and the other paediatric hospitals to provide a sustainable safe paediatric orthopaedic trauma service.”

The Children’s Hospital Group, which is tasked with integrating children’s services ahead of the opening of the new national paediatric hospital at St James’s, said that two new consultant posts shared between Our Lady’s in Crumlin and the National Children’s Hospital at Tallaght aim to start in July and August.

The hospital group said: “This is the first step in developing an integrated outreach orthopaedic trauma clinic service which is in-line with the proposed model of care for the new Paediatric Urgent Care and OPD Satellite Centre due to open at Tallaght in 2018.”

Despite speculation that the review clinic at Tallaght Hospital would resume in the coming week, neither Tallaght Hospital nor the Children’s Hospital Group could confirm this to The Echo.