12,000 arthritis patients take campaign to Dáil

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.

Arthritis Ireland’s campaign, called Why Are We Waiting?, comes against a backdrop of 1,400 adults and 81 children waiting over a year to access a rheumatology consultant, often amid crippling pain.

The charity said there are 152 children waiting more than nine months to see a consultant paediatric rheumatologist in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin.