Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important matter. I have put it down for the lottery five or six times. Spina bifida affects about one in every 1,000 children born in Ireland. For reasons still unknown, Ireland has one of the world's highest rates of spina bifida. As a result, there are children who are waiting for complicated surgeries and procedures for some time. They are waiting for life-changing surgeries, often in pain. They often need surgery to ease their suffering and to make their daily life and that of their families and carers a little easier. We are very lucky to have excellent voluntary supports for those effected by the condition, with organisations such as the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association doing tremendous work for these families. It understands the complexities of the condition and provides support and advocacy for families. One such family who have found themselves at their wits end is the family of Oisín Halpenny. I want to raise his case with the Minister of State. Oisín is a six-year old boy from County Louth who has spina bifida. I know Oisín and his mother, who is related to my wife, Róisín. Oisín's mother, Kelly, has told me that he has been on a waiting list since March 2018, which is almost three years ago. This is for necessary surgery needed to help Oisín in his day-to-day life.

In November last year, Oisín's ankles had deteriorated and the family was told that the operation now needed was a Grice procedure and a Russian transfer. The family was informed that this might change as his ankles deteriorated even more. His parents were told time and again that the surgery was scheduled only for it to be rescheduled and pushed out.

My question is whether Oisín's family is going to have to wait until the next stage of his deterioration for the surgery to happen, which may be too late. At that point, the doctors may need to go back to the drawing board and recommend another type of surgery, which will cause an inevitable further delay. I have raised this matter through parliamentary questions to the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who said in his response that he would review the case. I was also told that Covid-19 had impacted on scheduled surgeries. The Government needs to look at how the scheduling of urgent surgeries is being handled and to rethink how those surgeries can be carried out safely and quickly, even in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis.

Will the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, review Oisín's case and work to ensure he gets his surgery scheduled as soon as possible? On the wider issue, will they undertake to review the waiting lists for children with spina bifida, who are waiting on surgeries in Temple Street hospital and other hospitals? I am told by Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Ireland, SBHI, that the main issues for children requiring essential services such as orthopaedics and urology is that there simply are not enough resources within the health system to look after them properly. This means that children like Oisín are left to live with unnecessary pain and disfigurement, a dynamic that affects their physical and mental well-being in a key phase of their development. We need enough consultants and we need those consultants to have the theatre time required to operate. We need a system to co-ordinate services in order that children with complex needs are not treated by each healthcare professional in isolation but are cared for by a multidisciplinary team which gives every child with spina bifida the best chance of reaching his or her full potential. Will the Minister of State work to ensure that consultants, theatres and slots are prioritised for children with spina bifida-related surgeries, treatments and other supports?

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