Children’s Health Ireland: 104 children on spinal surgery waiting list 

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There are 104 children waiting for spinal surgery with Children’s Health Ireland including three waiting over a year and a half, new figures show.

That is despite 279 spinal surgeries being carried out since January. The waiting lists kept growing in that time with 229 new procedures listed.

“CHI will continue to make every effort to achieve the target of 540 procedures by the end of 2026, however our overall aim is to reduce waiting time for patients,” a spokeswoman said.

The overall update from CHI covers children who had their care in private healthcare centres as well as part of funded plans to tackle the waiting lists.

CHI has faced questions from parents and advocates over delays in accessing these vital surgeries.

Care for children living with scoliosis and spina bifida has been the subject of several critical reports with a HSE-commissioned review still continuing.

CHI said the 104 children are on its active surgery list meaning they are going through pre-operation assessments. 

“(They) will be scheduled for an admission date in the future,” a spokeswoman said.

Chief executive Lucy Nugent said: “These figures show the continued progress being made by our teams in reducing waiting times and ensuring children receive the care they need.” 

She added: “CHI continues to work to improve our services and communicate with children, young people, their families and the public better. 

"We remain committed to improving access to care and reducing waiting times for children and young people across Ireland.” 

Uncertainty remains over when the CHI hospitals will move to a new home as construction continues on the new children’s hospital in Dublin.

“We also look forward to moving into an environment that is truly built for children and that will help us deliver the best possible experience alongside the best possible care,” Ms Nugent said.

The update also shows the average wait for an outpatient appointment is now 3.9 months. This is almost halved from an average of 7.4 months last year.

There were also fewer children waiting for these appointments at 431 by July compared to 557 by July last year.

Some 99.5% of patients have waited less than 12 months for their first appointment. The remaining children waiting longer than 12 months have date scheduled.

Head of the spinal surgery management unit Dave Moore said: “All patients are prioritised for spinal surgery based on their diagnosis, size of spinal deformity, the presence of other conditions/co-morbidities, their age and the amount of growth they have left to do.” 

He highlighted the number of surgeries done, adding: “Since the beginning of the year, more spinal surgeries have been carried out than new procedures added to the waiting list, demonstrating the significant work taking place across our service.” 

He also said: “Behind every number is a child and a family who need our care, and our teams remain focused every day on providing that care as quickly and safely as possible.”