Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week in response to an issue raised on Leaders' Questions about the HSE, the Taoiseach said that certainly there are no secrets in the Department of Health or the HSE and he agreed that we should have an honest debate about our health care and health funding. I disagreed with him on the first issue. There are many secrets in the health service and one of them is sitting in the Public Gallery just up there in front of the Tánaiste, so let us have an honest debate.

Aisling Corcoran is 31. She travelled here this morning with her mother Tricia from Mayo. Aisling had rods inserted when she was a young child because she had scoliosis. In 2014, the rods had to be removed as they were infected and she went on the waiting list for surgery to get rods reinserted. Aisling was under the care of a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in University Hospital Galway. I first had contact with Aisling in early 2015 as I had been raising many questions about the Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin. I will read out a few lines from a letter from the consultant in University Hospital Galway:

Aisling is one of approximately 40 people under my direct care that require major complex spinal surgery at Galway University Hospitals. She has been placed on a waiting list for some time for this to occur and in the current context of allocation of resource to me at my hospital I do not see it happening easily for the foreseeable future.

This is exactly what happened. She was transferred to a consultant in Tallaght Hospital. Her first consultation was in January 2016. Aisling was assessed and put on the surgery list as a priority. Eventually, she was given a date of 5 September 2017. She had to come up to Dublin for pre-operative assessment, scans and X-rays. It is complex surgery so Aisling and her family and friends were anxious and had to arrange travel and time off work. It was cancelled by the surgeon due to personal matters. That can happen. It was a huge letdown. The operation was rescheduled for 28 November 2017. Again, she underwent pre-operative assessment, X-rays and scans. It involved getting organised, getting her bags packed and anxiety. At the eleventh hour, the operation was again cancelled due to personal matters. This was a massive letdown mentally and physically for Aisling.

To add insult to injury, to date, the consultant has made no professional contact with or arrangement to meet Aisling despite her ringing him continuously. Every time she does so, the surgeon is out due to personal matters, his secretary has not spoken to him, he is busy between Tallaght Hospital and Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin or he is out sick. In the mean time, Aisling's curve is now 70%. There is a danger that her walk, structure and organs will be affected. Her life is on hold. She gets terrible spasms of pain and often ends up in accident and emergency departments or stays in bed for days. Aisling cannot plan her future.

Let us be honest. Is this acceptable? Does the Government stand over a health service that treats patients this way? The Minister for Health knows about this case. I brought it to his attention two weeks ago and rang his PA yesterday to say that I would be raising this issue today. I am surprised he is not here in the Chamber to meet Aisling. Aisling is seeking an honest answer and expects an honest reply.

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