{"id":40634,"date":"2025-09-24T12:38:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T12:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/40634\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T12:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T12:38:07","slug":"childrens-health-ireland-to-be-folded-into-hse-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/40634\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Health Ireland to be folded into HSE \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children\u2019s Health Ireland<\/a> (CHI) is to be subsumed into the Health Service Executive<\/a> (HSE) following months of controversy at the healthcare group.<\/p>\n

The operator of paediatric healthcare has faced significant issues in recent months, particularly in relation to the operation of its orthopaedic and spinal services. <\/p>\n

CHI is currently an independent entity to the HSE that operates the three children\u2019s hospitals at Tallaght, Crumlin and Temple Street.<\/p>\n

It is also due to operate the new national children\u2019s hospital expected to open next year and will incorporate the three existing hospitals.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Wednesday morning, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill<\/a> said she had decided to integrate CHI into the HSE after reflecting on Government structures \u201cfor some months\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Children\u2019s Hospital Ireland will be the central hub in the network of paediatric care with links to regional paediatric units, operated overwhelmingly by the HSE. Accordingly, I have decided to integrate CHI into the HSE structure,\u201d Ms Carroll MacNeill said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe background of CHI was the integration of three very different paediatric hospitals with a view to moving to a single dedicated specialist paediatric hospital. We are very close to that hospital being delivered and operational and it is therefore time to further integrate paediatric care formally into the HSE.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Carroll MacNeill said it will transition \u201cboth operationally and legislatively\u201d in 2027.<\/p>\n

She said she wanted to ensure quality and continuity of care was provided to children.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our wonderful staff in CHI, who are working so hard every day to provide excellent care to our children, I want to say to you that we enormously value you and your contribution to paediatric care. We are working to support you in your work and towards the new National Children\u2019s Hospital Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minister also announced that Dr Yvonne Traynor, an existing CHI board member, has been appointed as chairperson of the CHI board, replacing Dr Jim Browne who stepped down earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Former chief executive of Barnardos Fergus Finlay and Suzanne Garvey, director of nursing and director of clinical hospital operations at the Beacon Hospital, have joined the board, she added.<\/p>\n

Responding to the announcement, \u00dana Keightley, co-lead of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group, called for answers as to why the Government had made a U-turn on the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April, after the damning Hiqa (Health Information and Quality Authority) report into children\u2019s spinal surgeries, the Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin stood on the floor of the D\u00e1il and said he backed the CHI board,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust five months on, the whole organisation is being subsumed into the HSE \u2013 a complete U-turn by Government. What has…led to this decision? There needs to be transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

She called on the Minister to meet with advocacy groups to explain the situation.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a meeting of the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday, Bernard Gloster, chief executive of the HSE, said the decision was \u201cvery significant\u201d<\/p>\n

He sought to reassure children and families who receive care in a range of specialities that they can be \u201cconfident in the service\u201d provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no doubt and no getting away from the fact that CHI has had very serious problems and issues, particularly in relation to spinal and orthoapedic care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Gloster said there has been tension in recent months between the HSE and CHI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were major governance failings in individual issues and thematic issues that came out of CHI,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said the final report into spinal services \u2013 an independent report by Dr Selvadurai Nayagam – would not be completed until close to Christmas or early next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Health Ireland (CHI) is to be subsumed into the Health Service Executive (HSE) following months of controversy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[30791,3414,1418,61,60,1421,43],"class_list":["post-40634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-children-s-health-ireland-chi","tag-department-of-health","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jennifer-carroll-macneill","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}