565 children who have arthritis, which can cause deformity if left untreated, have yet to receive their first appointment to an outpatient clinic.

Laura Hickey first recalls being in pain at the age of 6 as she sat on her dad’s knee having anti-inflammatory cream rubbed into her joints.

Some of the 12,000 children and adults on waiting lists for arthritis treatment will gather outside Leinster House today to ask election candidates to back their call for more staffing resources.

Grace Cappock; head of public affairs and communications with the Medical Research Charities Group.

Rosanna Davison has been accused of giving arthritis sufferers false hope after she claimed gluten can be responsible for autism, schizophrenia, and arthritis.

A young girl suffering from crippling arthritis has spoken out about her condition, urging people to realise it’s not just elderly people who are affected by this debilitating disease.

A teenager suffering from arthritis says it is unacceptable that children like him are left waiting in pain for years to see a specialist.

More than 100 children with a potentially lifelong crippling condition are waiting in excess of two years to see a specialist at the only public hospital in the country to provide the service that they need.

Almost two thirds of people with arthritis have had their discretionary medical cards taken away or placed under review, it has been claimed. Almost three quarters of parents who have children with juvenile arthritis have also had discretionary cards taken away or placed under review.

ARTHRITIC aches and pains are something you might expect after retirement, but not as a young person.

When I was 14, I developed pain and swelling in my joints. After months of tests and hospital stays, I was diagnosed. I’m 17 now and I recently abseiled down a cliff, says Siobhan O’Shaughnessy

The Irish team faces an uphill journey, but the intrepid Pedal to Poland cyclists face a flat one as they power towards their final destination and that date with Spain.

Remarkable results from trials into a new drug have given hope to thousands of Irish people who suffer from an agonising medical condition, rheumatoid arthritis.

It’s one thing packing yourself into an impossibly small caravan with nearly a dozen people to make the trek to see Ireland in Poland, but it’s quite another to pedal your way there.

AN irritating boss or colleague, misbehaving children, being bumped into in the street are just a few of the things that can make any of us cross sometimes.

Two thirds of people with arthritis in Ireland are failing to manage their condition properly, it has emerged.

Scientists in Cork are working with counterparts in the North to develop a glove which could transform the way arthritis is diagnosed and treated.

SUCH is the severity of 6-year-old Lorcan Wood Wolfe’s chronic arthritic condition, he must travel fortnightly from West Cork to Dublin for highly specialised drug treatment.

A NATIONAL full-time service for children with a potentially crippling condition is to be reduced to two days from next week when the doctor who oversees it goes on maternity leave.

THE busy South Cork guild at Innishannon got the past year off to an altruistic start with two whist card drives which raised proceeds for the Bandon Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber and Rehab.

AN Irish Examiner survey of the pay packages earned by the heads of leading charities shows most are on salaries ranging from €100,000 to €150,000.

ARTHRITIS sufferers could be spared further pain and joint damage by a tiny chip implant in their neck.

PEOPLE with arthritis are being urged not to suffer in silence as research reveals that they are twice as likely to feel suicidal than those with healthy joints.

LIFE-ALTERING gadgets based on clothes hangers, screwdrivers and a lid opener may sound like a plot twist from classic 80s show MacGyver, but they can have just as vital an impact on someone outside the fictional TV world.

CHILDREN with a potentially lifelong, crippling condition are waiting more than a year to see a specialist because of a shortage of resources.

A CAR that drives itself; a lawn that never grows so you don’t have to cut it; a house that needs no cleaning.

More than a third of chronic pain sufferers waited over a year for diagnosis, with one in three fearing their condition would jeopardise their jobs, it was revealed today.

YOUNGER and more active people are those more likely to have received the artificial hip replacement system found to have a higher failure rate, it emerged yesterday.

DESIGNS for a rotating door handle, an easy-to-grip carton and a bizarre kettle-mug hybrid have been lauded for their potential to improve the lives of the country’s 40,000 rheumatoid arthritis sufferers.

VITAL specialised services for children with a potentially crippling and painful condition have been halved because of staff shortages.

THE health service has just one paediatric rheumatologist to treat a potentially crippling condition that affects up to 1,000 children, resulting in delayed appointments and poor outcomes for many.

A project aiming to get more people with arthritis into the workplace has been launched after a survey found almost seven out of 10 sufferers cannot hold down full-time jobs.

ARTHRITIS affects more than 1,000 children in Ireland, and the incidence of juvenile arthritis (JA) is as common as childhood diabetes.

A CONSORTIUM of 40 charities will launch the first Irish television advertising campaign to encourage people to leave a donation in their will to charity.

HOLDING down a job is tougher for people like Irene Kearney who have rheumatoid arthritis because fatigue is a significant symptom of the disease.

FOUR-YEAR-OLD Robert Courtney is a lively and fun-loving child well able to keep up with his twin brother Sam. But he was not always so.

DAPPER draper Louis Copeland yesterday donned a €30,000 suit — and found it a painful experience.

IRISH women have joined the one million women in Europe who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to demand urgent action on the poor services available for the incurable disease.

THE arthritic hands of women of varying ages are the focus of a new television advertising campaign aimed at reinforcing the message that the joint disease can strike at any age.

ARTHRITIS sufferers are waiting up to four years for treatment in some parts of the country because the Health Service Executive (HSE) has failed to employ much needed specialists to treat the condition, according to the support group, Arthritis Ireland.

Arthritis sufferers in the west of Ireland are waiting up to seven years to see a consultant.

COURAGEOUS Anna Nolan was smiling through her pain yesterday.

ARTHRITIS suffers forced to wait years for treatment are becoming suicidal, an Oireachtas committee heard yesterday.

PLANS to have the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) involved in a new scheme to remedy a situation where public patients are having to wait up to seven years to see a specialist have been welcomed by the Irish Patients Association.