Mayo TD calls for the 'end of the neglect of children with significant medical needs within this State'

Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday on the Government’s National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh welcomed the plan, but said to fellow Connacht TD Hildegarde Naughton on the government benches: “We know the road from here to Mayo is paved with unimplemented strategies and good intention”.

Figures reported yesterday demonstrate the situation is getting worse, rather than improving. They reveal there are 135 children on the waiting list for spinal surgeries, an increase from 108 at the start of the year, and since then just seven children have received their surgery abroad under the directive introduced by the previous Minister for Health instructing the HSE to send children waiting more than four months for their surgery to the UK or New York.

Teachta Conway-Walsh said: “The tragic and avoidable passing of Harvey Morrison Sherratt over the summer must bring an end to the neglect of children with significant medical needs within this State”.

“My sincere condolences to his parents Gillian and Stephen, and my gratitude to them for the campaign they are leading to save the lives of other children who wait for operations. I fully support their pursuit of a full independent statutory enquiry.”

“Mikey Henry from Mayo is one of these young people who has experienced the consequences of failure of care within Children’s Health Ireland. He is 17 years of age”.

“When his parents first tried to access an operation for Mikey for scoliosis in 2022, the curve on his spine was 82 degrees. This week the curve on his spine is 130 degrees”.

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“Mikey’s scoliosis has deteriorated to the point that it has damaged his lungs and left him struggling to breathe on his own, requiring oxygen during the day and a mask at night to breathe”.

“This comes despite promises in 2017 from the Tánaiste and then Minister for Health Simon Harris that by the end of that year no child would have to wait more than four months for scoliosis surgery, this is evidently not the reality for families up and down the country”.

“Last week when I spoke to Harvey’s mum Gillian, I asked her what immediate steps needed to be taken to ensure no other lives were lost. She outlined two very practical immediate measures”.

“The first one was insourcing. Why are we not bringing in consultants and surgeons from abroad to carry out these lifesaving operations?”

“The second one was the ring fencing a small section of private hospitals to carry out surgeries for non-complex patients, thereby freeing up public hospitals for more complex surgeries where a multiple of treatments are required”.

“I ask that this house be updated on waiting list numbers on a weekly basis until all children on the waiting list have received their lifesaving surgeries”.

“I also want to raise the necessity of Mikey, other children, and young adults to be provided with suitable transport. Suitable transport that can carry the oxygen tanks and meet the needs of a family of a child with scoliosis who has been failed in so many ways”.

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