Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced on Wednesday that Children’s Health Ireland hospitals will be integrated into HSE control by 2027, in what families are calling a major u-turn on previous government commitments.
The shock announcement affects the three hospitals currently under CHI’s banner – Temple Street, Crumlin, and Tallaght children’s hospital – which will formally integrate into HSE structures ahead of the move to the new National Children’s Hospital.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said she had spent “some months” reviewing governance structures across the health service, concluding that integration was necessary as “the National Children’s Hospital Ireland will be the central hub in the network of paediatric care with links to regional paediatric units, operated overwhelmingly by the HSE.”
The minister sought to reassure families that “this transition will not impact on your day-to-day care,” describing it as “a steady process” that began with HSE board appointments and will transition “both operationally and legislatively with implementation in 2027.”
However, the decision has prompted strong criticism from patient advocacy groups who described it as a complete reversal of previous government positions. Una Keightly, co-founder of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group, highlighted the timing contradiction.
“In April, after the damning Hiqa report into children’s spinal surgeries, the Taoiseach Micheál Martin stood on the floor of the Dáil and said he backed the CHI board,” Keightly said. “Now just five months on, the whole organisation is being subsumed into the HSE – this is a complete U-turn by the government.”
Keightly called for transparency about what prompted the decision, noting that when her group met with the minister in May requesting this change due to failures in scoliosis and spina bifida care, “we were told it was not an option being explored.”
The restructuring comes after more than two years of upheaval at CHI, with families demanding clarity about the decision-making process behind the major organizational change.
A new chairwoman has been appointed alongside two new board members, including former HSE board member Fergus Finlay, as part of the transition arrangements.
The minister addressed staff concerns, stating they are “valued and will be supported” during the move to the new hospital structure, emphasizing that the government is “working to support you in your work and towards the new National Children’s Hospital Ireland.”
Both the HSE and CHI have been approached for comment on the restructuring announcement.