The travel package for children was detailed as it emerged up to 38 children have had their spinal surgery outsourced from Dublin children’s hospital to another hospital, including hospitals in the UK and the United States, according to September waiting list figures.
The travel package states for comfort and flexibility, families will be booked into either a three-star hotel or a serviced apartment, close to the hospital abroad.
Families will be provided with these details directly before their travel date, it added.
Families will be provided with a daily stipend for meals and expenses while they are away. Before the trip, parents will receive a prepaid currency card. More information about this will be discussed directly with families when their surgery date is confirmed, said CHI.
It will include travel insurance, an issue which some parents were worried about.
Under an initiative to reduce waiting list for children with scoliosis needing spinal surgery it was announced during the summer that suitable patients could have their surgeries in other designated hospitals.
Overall, the waiting list or spinal surgery in September stood at 248 compared to 258 the month previously.
The children whose care are outsourced come under the suspended list.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), which oversees the three children’s hospitals, announced during the summer that it was engaging with other hospitals and organisations, both in Ireland and abroad, regarding spinal surgeries and patient care agreements. At that stage a number of patients had been assessed and deemed suitable for spinal surgery abroad.
The hospitals include New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and the Portland Hospital in London There is an ongoing agreement with Blackrock Clinic in Dublin to continue to work together to expand out-sourcing for adolescents who require spinal fusion surgery.
For the first time CHI has published dedicated phone numbers and the names of staff who will take calls from parents on clinical questions.There are also personal emails for questions around surgery abroad and an email for a spinal patient advocate liaison coordinator.
Advocacy groups representing parents of children on the waiting list have remained critical of the service and poor communication with reports of parents trying to get an update on their child and failing to get information.
Waiting list figures show that nationally 87,022 patients were waiting for an appointment for their inpatient or day case treatment in September.
While 23,883 patients were waiting to receive an appointment for their gastrointestinal endoscopy and 595,575 patients are waiting for a first hospital outpatient consultation.
The Department of Health said today the hospital waiting list for hospitals across the country demonstrate the progress achieved through the multi-annual action plan approach implemented by the Government to address long wait times for care.
The latest hospital activity report, published by the Health Service Executive (HSE), shows increased levels of activity in the delivery of scheduled and unscheduled care.
The figures show significant positive progress being achieved in terms of patients waiting longest. There has been a .17pc reduction in the total number of patients waiting over 12 months since this time last year, and a corresponding reduction of .27pc in the number waiting over 18 months.
