The move to cut waiting lists must be managed effectively, but questions remain about delivering a better service in Ireland
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly: brought new proposals to cut spinal surgery queues for children to cabinet. Something has gone badly wrong when the Department of Health has to resort to sending children abroad for spinal surgery. Dozens of children are expected to travel to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York in the coming months for spinal surgery for conditions including scoliosis.
The measures are, however, an overdue attempt at bringing down the waiting list for children’s spinal surgery, including painful and dangerous conditions. The most recent figures – for September – show that there are 249 children on the waiting list, of which 145 are on the active list waiting for a surgery date, 90 of them for more than three months. The intention is that the number of children waiting more than four months will fall to 20 by the end of the year.
The cost of sending children abroad for spinal surgery has not been disclosed but is clearly going to be substantial. But any analysis must consider the human cost for the children and their families of delayed surgery. The focus must now be on ensuring that the plan delivers and that waiting lists do not return to unacceptably high levels.
However, the ¤19 million that was committed to children’s spinal surgery post-Covid did not have the impact that was expected and this points to other problems in this part of the health service that are worthy of scrutiny.
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