This week I challenged the Taoiseach on the fact that hundreds of children are waiting years for urgent orthopaedic surgery for conditions such as spina bifida and scoliosis.
Many kids with spina bifida wait as long as four years. This has devastating consequences. Without surgery, their conditions get worse.
Children who once walked independently are now in wheelchairs.
Una Keightley of the Spina Bifida Paediatric Advocacy Group revealed children waiting too long endure open sores, skin breakdown and infection. They and their families experience real mental distress and worry.
Orthopaedic surgeon Conor Green has said their future potential is being “destroyed” physically and psychologically by all of this.
At the weekend, 11-year-old Ava Cahill from Tallaght told RTE the story of her hope for spina bifida surgery.
She has been waiting over a year-and-a-half. Ava lives with considerable pain as her feet have turned in on themselves.
Her mother says it is getting harder for her daughter to hold her splint in place, which she needs to keep her feet straight.
Ava added it is becoming increasingly difficult for her to do everyday things.
She spoke about how her feet keep getting caught in her pants when she tries to dress herself and about not wanting anybody to see them.
Ava, like any other child, wants to do the things her friends do.
Fighting through the tears, she said of the operation she so badly needs: “It will make my feet straight and I can tell everybody my feet are normal.”
Ava’s case is heart-breaking but, sadly, it is not unique.
Her story re- minded me of little Sophie Redmond who in 2020 had to stand with a placard outside Leinster House to highlight her wait for scoliosis surgery.
Too many kids are in a similar situation as they await life-changing operations. This is a terrible failure of vulnerable children.
It is wrong they are left in a race against the clock for vital healthcare.
The longer they wait for their surgery the more complex the procedures they eventually need or they could face the nightmare scenario where their conditions can no longer be operated on.
The wait is ruining children’s chances of a normal life, free of pain.
The Government could and should act today to end the nightmare children are living through. Experts say a modest investment of €5million would get these youngsters off waiting lists and into operating theatres for their surgery.
This funding request was made two years ago. It is still on the desk of the Minister for Health and children continue to wait in agony.
The solution is simple. The money needs to be released now. This would be the best €5million a government would ever spend, it would transform children’s lives and relieve the intense worries of their parents.
Families should not have to fight the State for healthcare.
And no child should have to bare their agony on TV or protest outside the Dail to get the surgery to which they are entitled.
