Spinal Surgery Updates

📋 CHI Spinal Surgery Waiting List & Activity Report – August 2025

• Full report
• 135 patients actively waiting. These patients are ready for surgery and waiting for a scheduled date for admission in the future.
• 342 spinal surgeries carried out to date.

➕ Waiting list additions

Please be assured that the list is constantly changing — as children and young people have their surgeries and come off the list, new patients are added. Important progress is being made every month.

👩‍⚕️ Recruitment - Welcome to Ms. Flavia Alberghina

The SSMU team wish to welcome a new Consultant Orthopaedic Spinal Surgeon to the team. Ms. Flavia Alberghina, FRCSI, FEBOT, is a paediatric orthopaedic surgeon with special interest in Spinal Surgery. Following the completion of higher specialist training in Italy, Ms. Alberghina completed a fellowship in Advanced Spine Surgery at the National Spinal Injuries Unit, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin, and a fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic and Scoliosis Surgery at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Canada. In 2023, she was chosen to be one of the European Traveling Fellows of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, and in 2024 she was awarded the Akbarnia Award at the 18th International Congress of Early Onset Scoliosis in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ms. Alberghina is currently on the Board of the European Pediatric Orthopaedic Society. Her interests lie in the management of children and young people with spinal deformities.

📅 Reduction in waiting time for outpatient appointments

CHI’s Spinal Surgery Management Unit is actively working to reduce waiting times for children attending spinal outpatient clinics. A key priority has been to ensure that those waiting longest are given appointments. We acknowledge that some children are still waiting several months for their first appointment, but we are continuing to expand clinic capacity and prioritise long waiters to bring these times down further. Our focus remains on making sure every child has timely access to spinal care.

As of 10 September 2025 (NTPF data), the total number on spinal OPD lists at CHI at Crumlin and CHI at Temple Street has reduced to 461. We continue to work to reduce wait times further, particularly for first OPD appointments.

🩺 X-rays now required with GP Referrals

From August 2025, no spinal referral will be accepted from a GP without an accompanying X-ray. In cases of suspected scoliosis, having an X-ray accompany a patient's GP referral letter significantly improves the triage process. X-rays can be ordered by GPs locally, and the GP resource pack contains more information.

🎬 Patient Education Videos

We will soon be reaching out to members of the Patient Panel for Spinal Services for feedback on video scripts and storyboards.

🧭 Plan for Every Patient

The Spinal Surgery Management Unit has developed a system called “Plan for Every Patient.” It helps the team to track every patient’s journey to surgery, identify and remove any delays, and see in real time how cancellations affect all children still waiting. This ensures better coordination and faster responses when issues arise.

🗂️Paediatric Spinal Surgery Taskforce minutes on gov.ie (external link)

For spinal service patients and families only.

• Children's Health Ireland acknowledges the publication of HIQA report
• Children's Health Ireland launches new Scoliosis Information Hub for patients and families
• November: Progress update from CHI’s Spinal Surgery Management Unit
• Children's Health Ireland welcomes the publication and findings of Health Service Executive review on the implementation of Scoliosis and Spina Bifida Action Plans 2022 and 2023
• GPs encouraged to use digital forms and X-ray pathways when referring children with suspected scoliosis to Children's Health Ireland
• Progress update from CHI’s Spinal Surgery Management Unit
• Children's Health Ireland to receive new, purpose-built Halo Traction wheelchairs for young scoliosis patients
• Spinal Surgeries Abroad

Attention all GPs:

From August 2025, spinal referrals without an accompanying X-ray will not be accepted.

• Digital scoliosis GP referrals: Send your scoliosis referrals through Healthlink (using the "spinal" drop-down menu for CHI at Crumlin referrals)
• Resource Pack: This pack contains information on the advised approach to take when you suspect scoliosis in a paediatric patient (under 16)
• Minimum Data Set requirements: It is important that all spinal referrals that we receive from GPs contain specific datasets, find more information here.
• Ordering spinal X-ray: In cases of suspected scoliosis, having an X-ray accompany your GP referral letter significantly improves the triage process. See the GP resource pack above for more information.