Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the opportunity to raise this issue, but I do so with anger and frustration on behalf of Evan Gardiner and his family, who are constituents of mine in Kildare North who have been utterly failed by Children's Health Ireland and by the system.

In September 2022, Evan was assessed by Mr. Pat O'Toole who recommended urgent surgeries on his knees, his ankles and, potentially, his hip. The advice was unambiguous: without intervention Evan faced the risk of lifelong mobility issues, including possible wheelchair dependency.

That was over three years ago, and no surgery has taken place. Since then, Evan's family have done everything that has been asked of them. They attended every appointment, followed every piece of medical advice and remained fully engaged with CHI, yet instead of action, they were told Evan had been lost in the system; a child with a severe and deteriorating condition lost in the system. That is completely indefensible. To make matters worse, Evan's father, Vincent, is himself undergoing cancer treatment. The family is under immense pressure, and they deserve clarity, compassion and timely care, not entities and cancellations and, to be honest, excuses.

My office became directly involved in May of this year. Since then, we have contacted CHI and the HSE over 40 times by email and over 20 times by phone. Every one of those contacts is documented and with me today. If this is the effort that a TD has to make to try to get some sort of answer, what hope do parents have in situations like this? It is completely farcical.

I will give the Minister of State another example. Last Friday, the family received a letter telling them that the surgery on 10 October was cancelled. I submitted today's Topical Issue last Friday, and on Monday, they sent a letter saying that the surgery on 10 October is back on. I will mention some of the other communications between CHI, the HSE and me and my office. On 23 June, I submitted a parliamentary question. The response took nearly four weeks and when it arrived on 7 August, it was incomplete. It failed to acknowledge two full years of Evan’s medical history, a critical period of assessments, consultations and missed opportunities. That omission was disgraceful. On 26 September, as I said, Evan's long-awaited appointment on 9 October was cancelled by phone with no explanation given. On 29 September, as I mentioned, CHI confirmed that Evan's surgery had been rescheduled for 10 October but yesterday afternoon, Vincent, his father, received a phone call from Crumlin hospital saying that Evan is now to be admitted on 9 October with surgery on 10 October. Does the Minister of State think it is any coincidence that once the Topical Issue matter was submitted for this morning, suddenly, CHI at Crumlin got into action? This is something we are seeing time and time again, not just myself but other Deputies. We raise numerous parliamentary questions. We contact the relevant phone lines and email addresses, yet it takes standing here in the Dáil for anything to happen. It is not feasible for the number of families throughout the country, like Evan's, that TDs, as in this instance, are raising individual cases to try to get some action. This case also shines a harsh light on how CHI is treating families. It also shows how CHI treats elected representatives. As I said, if a TD with every avenue open to him or her cannot get timely, honest information, how on earth are families supposed to get the answers they need?

I have a number of questions I will put to the Minister of State in the final two minutes. This is a situation we are seeing. Harvey Sherratt was one example, and now we are seeing an inquiry into what happened there. This is not just in relation to hip dysplasia and scoliosis. This is going across the board into multiple areas of children's health. I welcome the decision that CHI is now going to be subsumed into the HSE because as far as I am concerned, it is not fit for purpose.

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