Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We welcome the plan if and when it is published. Some parents have contacted us - we have raised this with the Minister previously - to the effect that the waiting lists are being managed in an aggressive way and parents are receiving letters asking them if their child still requires surgery. Can the Minister please request that this practice ceases? These children will not get better on their own. There is no prospect of them not needing surgery. They are getting these letters, they are given an impossibly short timeframe in which to respond and then they are being taken off the waiting list. I sincerely hope that is not contributing to the reduction in the waiting list numbers because if it is, that is a shame on the Department and the HSE. That is happening. Can the Minister issue an instruction to his officials to tell them to desist from that practice or if they must write to the parents, to give them sufficient time to respond. Parents are panicking about getting the post or responding in time. They are busy people with sick children and they do not need this extra hassle. Their kids will not get better on their own and the doctors know that.

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