Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Given that Deputies were given wide latitude to discuss a very important issue like scoliosis under a question that is related to the structure and management of my Department, I would like to talk about scoliosis as well because I think it is very important. It is not the kind of issue I would use in that sort of way to score tacky points around the management of a Department.

I am a doctor by profession. I understand scoliosis. I have treated patients who have had scoliosis. When I was a medical student, I remember seeing kids who were waiting on operations whose lung function was getting worse by the day and by the month because of the delays in getting treatment. I vowed to myself that if I ever had the privilege to hold political office, to be Minister for Health or Taoiseach, I would try to do something about this. I have been following this issue as a Deputy and as Minister for Health, and I am still following it and working on it as Taoiseach. I take it very seriously and it is something I am very committed to because I really feel for these kids and their families.

We have made very significant strides forward. We have the new theatre in Crumlin, for which I provided funding when I was Minister for Health. I appreciate it is not open fully to capacity but it is open. As Minister for Health I also took the decision to offer the option of going abroad for treatment to patients. I totally accept that many families do not accept that but the offer is made.

I am sure, if the Deputy genuinely cared about this issue, she would have mentioned and welcomed the progress that has been made. At the beginning of February of this year there were 315 patients awaiting spinal fusion. As of 1 December there are 156 patients on the scoliosis active waiting list, so, since February, the number of people on that scoliosis waiting list is down by more than half. The numbers now waiting more than four months was 80 last week, it will be down to 68 this week and by the end of the year, it will be down to 25. There will be only 25 children with scoliosis waiting more than four months and all those will be given an offer in the new year.

Instead of taking cheap shots, I would have thought, at the very least, we would have got some recognition from the Labour Party about the amount of progress that has been made in this area. I know it is not achieving everything or what those kids deserve but to have gone from 315 patients waiting down to 156 now, and to as few as 25 waiting more than four months by the end of this year, is enormous progress. A lot of credit is due to the officials working on this in the various Departments, to the staff in the HSE and, in particular, to the consultants, nurses and other staff in Crumlin.

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