Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) welcomes the launch of a new national model of care for General Paediatric Surgery (GPS) in Ireland
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) welcomes the launch of a new national model of care for General Paediatric Surgery (GPS) in Ireland
3 Meán Fómhair 2024
Gach suíomh CHI
News
Today, Tuesday, 3 September 2024, Children’s Health Ireland is delighted to welcome the launch of a new national model of care for the sustainable delivery of General Paediatric Surgery (GPS) in Ireland. This new model of care was formally launched today at RCSI.
This new General Paediatric Surgery: A model of care for Ireland 2024 aims to ensure that every child in Ireland has access to safe, high-quality surgical care, no matter where they live. The framework aligns with the Sláintecare principles of treating patients closer to home, whenever possible.
Under the framework, a national network of hospitals provides safe surgical care for children. Children’s Health Ireland supports regional hospitals in the network with a CHI General Paediatric Surgeon travelling to the regional hospital to work with the local teams in their paediatric facilities. The CHI surgeon works with the local teams to carry out surgeries and to hold out-patient clinics for local patients. This facilitates standardisation of practices and treatment as close to home as clinically appropriate.
If a child or young person needs to be transferred from their local or regional hospital for complex surgical care in Children's Health Ireland in Dublin, they are transferred in a timely and safe manner with surgeons regionally and surgeons in Children’s Health Ireland coordinating the transfer.
As recommended in the GPS Model of Care, complex paediatric surgery will continue to be performed in Children's Health Ireland in CHI at Crumlin, CHI at Temple Street, and, when open, in the new National Children’s Hospital. (For further information, please see the Model of Care document, which outlines the “General Paediatric Surgery Case Bundles” for cases that can be undertaken in local and regional hospitals.)
Mr Brice Antao, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and CHI Paediatric Network Care Lead, said:
“Today marks a significant milestone for paediatric healthcare in Ireland. After extensive collaboration and consultation with all key stakeholders, we are proud to have reached a consensus on a national model of care for General Paediatric Surgery in Ireland. "
“This Model of Care reflects the commitment and dedication of our partners and is a comprehensive roadmap that everyone is fully on board with. This framework will guide us in delivering the highest standard of surgical care to children across the country, and we are excited to move forward in shared commitment”.
Ms Nicola Brindley, CHI Consultant Paediatric Surgeon and lead clinician on Outreach Paediatric Surgery Clinic with UHL, said:
“I’m delighted to work with my perioperative and paediatric colleagues in University Hospital Limerick to have started the first implementation of this national model of care for paediatric surgery in Ireland. We have received positive feedback from the children, their families and staff involved in the Outreach Paediatric Surgery Clinics in UHL already held this Summer and look forward to this new way of working being implemented in other regional centres.”
General Paediatric Surgery: A model of care for Ireland 2024 was launched today by the National Clinical Programme in Surgery (NCPS) and the National Clinical Programme for Paediatrics and Neonatology (NCPP&N), as part of a collaboration between the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), the Royal College of Physicians and a national network of hospitals providing surgical care for children, supported by Children’s Health Ireland.
The first implementation of this new model of care has started with the UHL Outreach Paediatric Surgery Clinic, provided in collaboration between UHL and CHI for local children and families.