I propose to take Questions Nos. 197, 198, 223 and 231 together.
The Children's University Hospital, Temple Street is the national tertiary care centre for spina bifida and hydrocephalus. All infants born in Ireland with Spina Bifida are transferred to Temple Street after birth for ongoing neonatal management. Children with spina bifida are seen by a multidisciplinary team at Temple Street which includes a Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in Spina Bifida, a Spina Bifida Nurse Specialist and Neurosurgery input. It is intended to recruit a consultant urologist in order to ensure dedicated urology input. A recruitment process took place in 2009/2010 and again in 2012/2013. As neither was successful, a new recruitment process is now in train and I am advised that the HSE is hopeful that this new recruitment process will result in a suitable candidate taking up the post.
In the interim, spina bifida patients are being reviewed by a consultant surgeon who has been granted honorary status at the hospital.
The hospital has also completed negotiations to establish a regular clinic with a UK paediatric urologist. Dates have now been scheduled in October and December for visits from this urologist and an appropriate Service Level Agreement is in place. As an interim arrangement, those children requiring urgent urological input are prioritised clinically and seen in the UK under the Treatment Abroad Scheme. All patients are being kept under regular review and are referred on a case by case basis to the UK for treatment, pending the appointment of a permanent urologist.