Mother of child who had hip surgery calls for confirmation if surgery was required

Vivienne Clarke

The mother of a child on whom bilateral hip surgery was performed is calling for reassurance for parents and confirmation from hospitals about whether surgery was required.

Áine Gladney-Knox, a Sinn Féin candidate for the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency in the last general election, told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that her son Archie was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when he was six months old and had bilateral pelvic operation in Crumlin hospital on the 19th of April 2022.

Post surgery Archie had to be readmitted to hospital and undergo a blood transfusion and further surgery. “He just screamed and screamed and screamed. That child went through absolute hell.

"He really, really went through a horrendous time and we didn't actually get home (from hospital) till the 4th of May.”

Ms Gladney-Knox said the last time Archie had an appointment was “a year and a half ago” with no further appointment. “They said as far as they were concerned that they were happy and they were going to leave him for a few years.”

Recently the family received a letter from Children’s Health Ireland saying that an audit was being carried out on cases of hip dysplasia surgeries.

“The letter for me was a bit wishy washy because I seen the letter and I just presumed it was like an audit they were doing on children, like it didn't break down what had actually happened.”

Ms Gladney-Knox said she went about her day and it wasn’t until she heard about the issue from Pearse Doherty that she went back home, looked at the letter again and realised that Archie was one of those children.

“And that's when I actually sat at my kitchen table and cried my eyes out because I was like, if he is one of the children, after what he's after going through, like it would actually break me as a parent.

“As a parent, you trust what they're telling you and you listen to what the doctors are saying and you go with what they recommend and that was it and it wasn't until this, now we're like, we still haven't heard a word from anybody, only this letter.

“I'm coming home every day checking my letter box to see if there is an update. Is Archie one of these children? It's eating up every day here in this house.”

Ms Gladney-Knox said she was not at all reassured by the letter, if anything, it had made her more anxious. It had raised more questions and made her question herself and her judgement as a parent. “We really need these answers. This has been a kick in the teeth. We want to know how long this is going to take. I want answers for my child.

“They have to get this right for all the families and all the children that are involved.”

Lack of information

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has spoken of the “excruciating lack of information” for the parents of children who had hip dysplasia surgery.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show, Mr Tóibín said that the government was adding to the confusion following the despatch of letters to parents from Children’s Health Ireland.

There were now thousands of parents who could “potentially be involved in something that may have happened for the last 15 years and the government is adding to the confusion.

“So the letter that's parents are receiving I understand is saying that children are being called back for a routine appointment.

"However, the Taoiseach has stated that and the department is identifying patients who may be affected but are not included in the audit.

“And then we see reports in the media saying that the appointment letters are because of an early recommendation in the unpublished review. Now, clearly those three sentences can't be true at the same time.

“So the government are giving us confusing messages in terms of what parents are being contacted. And, you know, it's quite incredible as well that the Taoiseach yesterday in leaders questions with myself. Stated that the audit won't go back 15 years. Why not? If it was wrong doing five, six, or seven years ago, surely that needs to be investigated as well.

“Are the government looking to do an audit for two years and then draw a veil over the practice previously? And parents have a right to know what happened to their children a number of years ago. And citizens have a rights to know why there's dysfunction in our health service.

"Why was there an operation happening at a rate of five to 10 times what you would expect in a normal population sample, and nobody found out at the time?”

Mr Tóibín said that Ireland was very poor at collecting patient data. “We don't have digital patient numbers. We don't have a good register of information, we don't data capture the outcomes for patients properly in this country and if those practices were in place as they are in other countries like the Scandinavian countries, there's no doubt in my mind that problems such as this would be picked up far earlier and patients would be protected.”