Scoliosis campaigners have blasted a decision by Temple Street Children’s Hospital to cancel life-changing spine operations for kids.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has been urged to intervene by award-winning campaigner Christine Terry and the Scoliosis Advocacy Network branded the controversial move to axe the ops as shocking.
Temple Street announced last Friday that it cancelled operations that were scheduled to take place over the next three weeks for children with Scoliosis, a disease which causes a sideways curvature of the spine.
READ MORE: Exhausted mum says son denied home care help has been failed by the HSE
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) yesterday apologised on behalf of the hospital, stating: “We are sincerely sorry to those families and patients affected.”
Christine Terry, whose son Adam famously wrote a letter to the Taoiseach last year for help to get surgery for his Scoliosis, is again calling for his intervention.
She said yesterday: “I’ve spoken [previously] with Micheal Martin and Stephen Donnelly. They don’t want this situation to be happening – but, at the end of the day, it is happening.
“They need to sit down at the drawing board and look at what’s needed. We need another consultant and more theatre time.
“Something is definitely structurally wrong from within. The minister and the Taoiseach need to look at that and what the problem is and bring change.”
Christine, from near Blarney in Cork, was the 2021 Blarney Person of the Year for campaigning for her son Adam (10).
The devoted mum publicised Adam’s agonising four-year wait for Scoliosis surgery after his scheduled operation was repeatedly delayed since August 2019, while his condition worsened and his pain deepened.
The Taoiseach and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly both rang Christine and HSE chief Paul Reid apologised for the situation.
Then, in February of this year, the Government pledged €19m funding to boost services and to reduce the number of Scoliosis patients who have been waiting over four months from 94 patients to zero by the end of this year.
But Temple Street Hospital decided to cancel operations for Scoliosis patients and the human cost of this was highlighted by the Kilkenny family of Brianna Phelan (7), who has scoliosis and has waited for back surgery for three years.
Her mother Caitriona revealed Temple Street cancelling Brianna’s operation of September 19 was “very difficult” and “upsetting”.
She said: “It’s very difficult. She is finding it hard to push her wheelchair now.
“She is getting pains in her shoulders. She is usually an outgoing child, but she wants to go to bed, she is tired all the time.
“She doesn’t want to visit family any more. It’s very upsetting, she needs this operation to be done for her to get back on life track.”
Christine Kelly said of the decision by Temple Street to cancel Brianna’s surgery: “I’m flabbergasted. It’s absolutely heartbreaking for beautiful Brianna.
“There are no words. I immediately started thinking, ‘Weren’t we promised €19m funding?’
“They promised huge changed back in February of this year. It’s now August and I have seen much change.
“The waiting list is growing all the time and now this. Here we go again and it is the same message for children who are very complex.
“They are the ones who are getting their surgeries cancelled.”
She added: “I’m just cross. It doesn’t make any sense, any of it.”
Temple Street Children’s Hospital explained that the decision to cancel the ops was due to increased demand for surgeries over recent months, which it claimed put pressure on resources, including beds, staff, and theatre capacity.
A commitment was given to reschedule the surgeries as a matter of urgency.
Three children are immediately affected, while a total of 32 kids on the waiting list for surgery are also impacted.
Claire Cahill of Scoliosis Advocacy Network branded the cancellations “a shock” and warned: “By deferring surgery, it will result in longer waiting lists for all children and will impact the whole list.”
She added: “I know of one child whose surgery has been cancelled three times in succession after a very long wait for the appointment.”
The Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group added that the children are being left in limbo.
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), which governs and operates acute paediatric services in greater Dublin area, defended the decision over the weekend to cancel the ops, stating that Scoliosis surgery is “complex and requires the support of services and teams across the hospital in addition to the specialist service itself”.
In a statement yesterday, CHI added: “This decision was made collaboratively by clinical staff and management for a number of reasons. We are sincerely sorry to those families and patients affected.”
CHI was established in January 2019 in preparation for the opening of the new children’s hospital at St James’s Hospital in Dublin by paediatric services of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, and Tallaght University Hospital.
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