Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend this serious and important motion. I acknowledge the suffering that those children with spina bifida and scoliosis have endured and are still enduring. Those children were failed and their families were failed, and they have felt every minute of those failures. I acknowledge their presence in the Gallery and applaud them for the untold struggle they face in being here tonight, and that is just to feel they have a voice. I was grateful to meet with and speak to a parent outside the Houses earlier today. They outlined to me the immense levels of frustration for their family and the huge importance of ensuring that the task force is independent of CHI management and for it to be mandated to actively listen and meaningfully engage with the parents and patient advocates. That must be delivered at the bare minimum. I say that because trust has been severely severed and the Government must be respectful of those who know best. They surely are the experts on the issue.

As has been said, it has been seven years since the then Minister for Health committed that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery, yet the situation now is worse than ever. One of the identified issues is the voluntary leave of a consultant. The question is why we build our entire health service on the expertise of one consultant covering a brief and then, when that consultant goes on leave, retires, moves on or whatever the case may be, there are delays and the system goes into chaos. Where is the evidence of forward-planning for such instances? The Minister in his opening statement mentioned funding he has allocated and the fact that it may not have been spent in the way in which it was supposed to be.

Notwithstanding that this is hugely concerning, in that context, and on the point of orthopaedics, Croom Orthopaedic Hospital has no X-ray machine. A patient has to go to the regional to get his or her X-ray, only to then have it read in Croom. That has been relayed to me by a number of constituents. Serious questions must therefore be asked about the future of healthcare in respect of priorities of senior management and the Government.

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