Any scoliosis inquiry will have to address 'toxic culture' at CHI, advocate says

Vivienne Clarke

The co-lead of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy group, Una Keightley, has said that any inquiry into the treatment of scoliosis patients will need to address the “toxic culture” at the children's hospital.

Ms Keightley was speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland in advance of Tuesday's Cabinet meeting at which Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is expected to present a memo recommending the establishment of a statutory public model of inquiry into the care provided to children with scoliosis and spina bifida.

The development follows a meeting last week between Tánaiste Simon Harris, Ms Carroll MacNeill and the parents of Harvey Morrison and relevant advocacy groups.

When asked what she hoped would emerge from an inquiry, Ms Keightley said: “I'm hoping that we will know what went wrong with this cohort of children because we all know the new children's hospital is coming and we've paid a lot of money for that hospital.

“But there are reports from CHI that show that there was a toxic culture within that hospital. And what we don't want to happen is that same toxic culture to go into this brand new building and the same problems to happen again or to a different cohort of children," Ms Keightley said.

“So with the poor governance that has come out of Children's Health Ireland, we need to have more trust in our hospital system, more trust when we're placing our children under the care of clinicians and a system. And we're hoping that by the end of this that trust will hopefully have been reinstated if we have a proper tribunal that uncovers all the issues that have occurred here.”