HSE rowed back on funding costs for boy in US

The HSE drew back from a commitment to fund accommodation and travel costs for the family of a young boy requiring limb-lengthening surgery in the US and denied him shoe lifts, a report has found.

An investigation by the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman found that the seven-year-old, who has limb abnormalities including a right femur which will not grow normally and who also does not have a left arm, was “adversely affected” by the HSE’s change of view on funding previously granted to his family.

The HSE has decided to honour the terms of its original agreement with the family on the recommendation of the report.