Scoliosis: Child faces second year on spinal surgery wait list despite pledge to slash delays

Claire Cahill in 2017 with her son Darragh, then aged 7, when his plight was featured on 'RTÉ Investigates: Living on the List'. Picture: RTÉ 

A child waiting for spinal surgery is facing his second year on a waiting list despite pledges to slash delays and being cleared for his operation a year ago.

The latest spinal service figures from Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) show 130 children ready for surgery and waiting.

Among the longest waiting are four children waiting 12 to 15 months and two waiting 18 to 24 months. One child has waited longer than two years. Up to the end of November, the number of surgeries done was 488.

Claire Cahill, a co-founder of the Scoliosis Advocacy Network said: "Our son started 2025 on a scoliosis wait list and ends it on one." 

'Semi-urgent' surgery list

She explained that Darragh has spent 59 weeks on a ‘semi-urgent spinal surgery list’. 

The HSE defines semi-urgent as needing care within timeframes agreed with a doctor or within 13 weeks of referral.

“Darragh was listed for surgery on November 14, 2024. His pre-ops were completed in January and February last year, and he was cleared for surgery,” she said.

However, in April, she was told there was no date for surgery.  On Friday she said: 

Even now, we don’t have an offer of a date for surgery from CHI. We asked for funding to go to the UK for his operation to happen, and this was turned down.

In 2017, when he was 7 years of age, Darragh's case featured in an RTÉ Investigates programme, Living on the List, which led to pledges of reform from government. 

Meanwhile, families in the Scoliosis Advocacy Network — as well as Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy group (SBHPAG) — are preparing for a public inquiry into their children’s care.  

This inquiry was announced in November by health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. 

Amanda Coughlan Santry, co-chair of SBHPAG, said next Saturday’s private meeting in Dublin is for families likely to be affected by this.

Scoliosis Advocacy Network co-founder Claire Cahill, who wrote in the 'Irish Examiner' in 2025 about her frustration at surgery delays, says her son Darragh is starting 2026 on the same wait list he was on this time last year. Picture: Conor Ó Mearáin/Collins

“We want to talk to our members, and find out what the important asks are for them, and hear their point of view,” she said.

She acknowledged the inquiry is unlikely to please everyone, but said: “We will do our utmost to make sure their voices are heard.”

It comes as several other reviews continue. 

“Families are very, very disappointed in the fact that other reviews are going on, but everything has been behind closed doors,” she said.

“What has happened to our children is not ok, and families are no longer willing to ignore those transgressions."