‘Time isn’t the concern’: Mother of Harvey Morrison Sherratt backs full probe into CHI scoliosis care

The announcement that health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Tánaiste Simon Harris would be recommending the inquiry came after they met on Wednesday evening with Gillian and Stephen Morrison Sherratt. Picture: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ie

The mother of a nine-year-old boy who died in July after waiting more than three years for surgery for his scoliosis says her family is prepared to wait as long as it takes for the statutory inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care at Children's Health Ireland (CHI) to conclude.

Speaking on Thursday morning, Harvey Morrison Sherratt's mother Gillian said the length of the inquiry was not the concern. “Our concern is that it gets the answers that we need,” she said.

On Wednesday, following a meeting between health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Tánaiste Simon Harris, and Harvey’s parents, Gillian and Stephen, the Government announced it would launch a statutory inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care at CHI.

Nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt died last July after waiting over three years for scoliosis surgery.

Last year, his name disappeared from a CHI waiting list with no explanation. At the time, the curve on his spine had reached a life-threatening 130 degrees, crushing his rib cage and putting pressure on his lungs and heart.

Harvey underwent surgery last December at Temple Street Hospital but died seven months later after his condition deteriorated.

His parents, along with advocacy groups, had consistently called for an inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care at CHI.

It's been 106 days since I have stepped foot in Harvey's room. It was the 1st thing I did when I got home this evening. I hugged his wheelchair and I cried. Yes, we will see #JusticeForHarvey and all of the innocent children failed by the state ✊

— Stephen Morrison (@Stephen63224725) November 12, 2025

Asked on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Thursday why her family wanted a public tribunal of inquiry instead of a commission of inquiry, which can often be quicker, Ms Sherratt said, “Our concern isn't with how fast it is done; our concern is always with how effective it is.”

“We want it to be efficient, but it's such a large undertaking. We’re talking about hundreds of children, if not thousands of children going back decades across multiple hospital sites, and one of the biggest things for us was that it needed to have the power to compel, that we don't trust that the staff working within the health system will be forthcoming with providing documents and statements and things," she said.

Ms Sherratt said the inquiry needed to be “truly effective so that we could see real change from this.”

Asked what she hoped the inquiry would uncover that previous CHI investigations had not, she said previous reviews had “very much been looking at pieces of the puzzle.”

Nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt died last July after waiting over three years for scoliosis surgery.

“We have seen failures in various departments, we've had children waiting, as you know, on wait lists for years for urgent surgery. We've seen issues in relation to neurosurgery, issues in relation to accessing neurological care. And we need to look really to get to the root of the problems so that we can address it going forward because what we don't want is history to repeat itself.” 

Ms Sherratt said she was told the inquiry would be “completely collaborative.”

“They are going to assign a facilitator or mediator that is completely independent of government, HSE, CHI, to sit down with the advocacy groups - the Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group and the Scoliosis Advocacy Network - and that will also encompass the children and parents’ voices because at the end of the day, their voices need to be centre in all of this."

Over the weekend, a report in The Sunday Times claimed Harvey Morrison was removed from the surgery waiting list because it was believed he was a palliative patient.

The newspaper said the claims were made by a CHI whistleblower in a protected disclosure, which is now under investigation.

Ms Sherratt described the matter as “disgusting” and said the language contained in the protected disclosure was “like a gut punch.”

"That'll have to go through the protective disclosures commission to kind of get the answers that we need in that regard," she said, adding that this protected disclosure was discussed only briefly during the meeting with the Health Minister on Wednesday.

“The minister for health stood fast in her stance that she hadn't seen it, but my concern around it is that, until that is investigated, my concern is that there would be older children that may have also been wrongly labelled as palliative that are still alive, that may not survive if this isn't addressed quickly."

She said she and her family are prepared for a potentially lengthy inquiry.

“No one on our side of the table, no one on the government side of the table, were under any impression that this would be fast. 

"You're talking of decades of neglect on our children. The advocacy groups and parents have been campaigning for this and fighting for this for a decade already. It needs to take as long as it takes to have the effect that we want it to. 

"Time isn't the concern. Our concern is that it gets the answers that we need.”