Cheap non-medical springs put inside children's backs

Unauthorised devices used at Temple St as one still remains in body of a patient

- PAT FLANAGAN

UNLICENSED springs costing €51 for a box of 10 were implanted in children at Temple Street Children's Hospital instead of medically-approved ones, it has been revealed.

It is understood that the compression springs, which could be used in many industries, were bought from a British company in January 2020.

It is still not clear how they came to be used in the complex surgical procedures on children suffering from spina bifida.

One child died and all of the children involved suffered significantly higher than normal complications following surgery after being operated on by a leading surgeon at the hospital.

The HSE chief executive yesterday confirmed that unauthorised springs used in spinal surgery on young children were not medical devices or approved to a basic European CE standard.