Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I speak in support of the Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024, which aims to create a proper national service for scoliosis treatment. It will make the HSE legally responsible for finding and treating people with scoliosis quickly. I do not want to repeat what others have said. I welcome the Bill and thank Senator McDowell and his team for bringing this important Bill forward. Last September, there were 249 patients on the waiting list, with 11 waiting between 18 and 24 months and seven waiting between two to four years to get this important operation. Like any other community, within the Traveller community, we have children with disabilities. About five weeks ago, I met a 16-year-old girl who just got diagnosed with scoliosis. I was sitting at my kitchen table listening to the young woman saying that she had scoliosis and did not know much about it. I wondered how this child got to the age of 16 without being diagnosed or receiving proper treatment. Now, she will have to go an adult hospital and be treated as an adult. That is unfair when she has been failed by the system. To be diagnosed at 16 years of age is appalling. For years, she was complaining with pains in her back and it was put down to kidney infections. We do not believe that would be the case if she was from the general population. We can talk about all the services in the world and say we want this fit-for-purpose service for young people and adults with scoliosis but there are no people to do the job. We do not have the resource to do the job. With the best intentions and supporting the Bill, where is the resource going to come from? I would like the Minister to answer this evening if that is any way possible because it looks to me like we will agree this Bill today, which is brilliant, but is not worth the paper it is written on unless there is implementation - it will just be broken promises again for the children with scoliosis in this country.