Ombudsman demands Government honour pledge on scoliosis surgery for children

The Ombudsman for Children, Niall Muldoon, said: "This is a promise they made to these children and it has been repeatedly broken with devastating consequences.” File picture: Maxwells

The Ombudsman for Children, Niall Muldoon, has called on the government to “honour its commitment” it made seven years ago to reduce scoliosis surgery waiting times for children to no longer than four months.

Last Friday, the parents of Harvey Sherratt (8), Clondalkin, Dublin, a patient at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, told how an 83 degree curve on their son’s spine, initially diagnosed when he was aged one, was threatening his life as it had resulted in his ribcage “crushing one of his lungs’ and “pushing on his heart”.

“He will die, he absolutely needs the surgery,” Harvey’s father, Stephen Morrison, said. After reading Harvey’s story, the Minster for Health Stephen Donnelly asked to meet with his parents to discuss the case.

In a statement, Mr Muldoon said he was aware of the “extremely long waiting times being experienced by children who need orthopaedic surgery”. 

"The government must honour the promise (made in 2017 by then Health Minister Simon Harris) that no child will be waiting longer than four months for their scoliosis surgery in Ireland. This is a promise they made to these children and it has been repeatedly broken with devastating consequences,” Mr Muldoon said.

Mr Harris said then that he was “ashamed” off the situation: “We are going to fix this, we're going to make sure by the end of this year, no child waits longer in this country for scoliosis procedure than four months, no child will wait longer than four months.” 

Today, seven years on from that promise, the Department of Health confirmed that at the end of December 2023 there were 231 children waiting for spinal surgeries.

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The department said this figure “excludes” the number of suspended surgeries, and is a 5% reduction on the waiting list compared to the end of 2022. It said 78 “active patients” were “waiting over four months” for paediatric spinal surgery “which is a 13% reduction compared to the end of 2022”.

The department did not respond to a request for comment on when a dedicated spinal surgery unit, promised by Health Minister Simon Donnelly, would be operational, although a consultant surgeon, Dr David Moore, has been appointed to lead the unit, and a nurse manager and business manager had also been appointed.

It’s still unclear where the spinal unit will be located, how many more staff are needed, if it will run five or seven days a week, and how many orthopaedic consultant surgeons are required.