Government figures asked to confirm statutory inquiry into spinal care at CHI

Protesters support Harvey Morrison Sherratt's parents in their call for better access to timely healthcare for chidren with disabilities, in August this year. Over the weekend, a whistleblower claimed that CHI mistakenly removed Harvey Sherratt from its active spinal surgery waiting list. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Senior Government figures will be asked to confirm a statutory inquiry on spinal care within Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at a meeting with parents and advocates today.

Gillian and Stephen Morrison Sherratt, whose nine-year-old son Harvey died in July after suffering from scoliosis, as well as advocates for children with spina bifida and scoliosis, will meet health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Tánaiste Simon Harris.

Amanda Coughlan-Santry, co-founder of the Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group, said they know what their aims are.

“We are looking for a full statutory inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida services within Children’s Health Ireland,” she said.

From our point of view there has to be a compellability element to it, given the gravity of the failures against these children.

She hopes to see a discussion around how terms of reference will be agreed with the parents.

Ms Carroll MacNeill previously pledged that an inquiry will be held.

This meeting was arranged before reports emerged over the weekend that Harvey was mistakenly thought by CHI to be a palliative care patient. A whistleblower's protected disclosure shared with the HSE showed the child was taken off the active spinal surgery waiting list for this reason. 

Ms Sherratt said on Sunday: “Harvey was never linked to a palliative care team, nowhere in his medical records is he referred to as palliative, and nobody ever even uttered the word to us. He was not palliative, he was removed from a list with zero treatment plan in place.” 

On Monday, CHI said it received the protected disclosure from the HSE.