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

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am sorry to hear about what Rosie is experiencing and what her family must be going through. I thank the Deputy for writing to me about it as well. I have the details I need and will follow it up with Children's Health Ireland during the week and get back to the Deputy about it as soon as I get a reply. My understanding from the Deputy's letter is the surgery was scheduled for 4 October but, on the Wednesday before the surgery, her mother got a phone call to say it was cancelled and they have not got an indication yet as to when it will be rescheduled. That is not a satisfactory situation. It is difficult to prepare a child for surgery, including psychologically. To find out it is cancelled is one thing; not to have another date is another thing again. That is extraordinarily difficult and I will follow it up with Children's Health Ireland to see what can be done.

On the wider issue of scoliosis and waiting lists, the Government severely regrets that children experience long waiting times for scoliosis treatment and we remain conscious of the burden this places on them and their families. Additional funding is committed as part of the budget to reduce waiting lists and improve waiting times. That is €250 million and there is a health budget of €22 billion this years, 50% higher than it was when the Deputy and I were in the Department of Health. It is a major increase in resources.

Officials in the Department of Health remain in regular contact with Children's Health Ireland, CHI, regarding scoliosis services, and CHI has advised that all patients with a diagnosis of scoliosis require a pre-operative work-up prior to spinal surgery. This includes multiple diagnostic investigations and review by a multidisciplinary team. The plan of care implemented for each patient is tailored to best meet the patient's clinical requirements. The cyberattack in 2021 caused significant disruption to the orthopaedic service and all services across the Children's Health Ireland group. As a result, many elective cases were postponed and, without access to a patient's full history and previous diagnostic investigations, it was not considered safe to proceed without all electronic support systems in place. For affected patients with complex needs, in particular, that restricted the patient cohort that could safely proceed with surgery.

Most systems are back up and running across the sites but backloading of information is continuing and this continues to have an impact on waiting lists and the number of surgeries completed. A new orthopaedic consultant with a special interest in neuromuscular conditions started in Temple Street last month, and that should enable the use of additional theatre capacity. Additional capacity is also being provided at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh. There are additional outpatient clinics and theatre sessions in Cappagh for non-complex, age-appropriate orthopaedic patients, and this should improve access to theatre on Children's Health Ireland base sites for more complex patients awaiting surgery.

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