Dáil debates

Tuesday, 26 November 2019

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

2:10 pm

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Children need early intervention in almost all cases to avert more serious illness downstream and to avoid conditions becoming progressively worse. The backdrop to this is the extraordinary number of children waiting so long for diagnostics, procedures or surgical interventions. The word "elective" does not convey the full story. When people say, "We are postponing elective...", it is routine. Some 400 children have been on a hospital waiting list for an orthopaedic procedure for at least two years before these delays kick in. A further 1,600 have been waiting for between 12 and 24 months. More than 2,000 children have been waiting for well over two years for similar procedures.

The numbers are quite staggering. We still do not have the therapeutic services, such as physiotherapy, and other interventions. We knew about the pressures that were going to come. The Government new about the pressures that were going to come. Why did it not anticipate them? Where was the preparation to ensure that the delays being experienced by children and their families would not be further delayed as a result of an inability of the health service to cope with the increasing demands, notwithstanding the winter crisis? We see the evidence daily and weekly. The figures are getting progressively worse. There is a real sense of the everything is spiralling out of control and the Minister is nowhere to be seen.

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