Minister tells council he ‘sincerely regrets’ wait times for children's orthopaedic services

The Minister for Health has told Meath County Council that one of his central policies is that waiting times for hospital appointments and procedures for children with spina bifida and/or hydrocephalus are improved and that the children receive the care that they need in a timely and appropriate fashion.

Minister Donnelly was replying to a notice of motion proposed by Labour Cllr Elaine McGinty and passed by the council calling on him to fast track these children for treatment.

Cllr McGinty said that there were 82 children with these conditions currently requiring orthopaedic intervention.

She asked that the Minister ensure that provision of services to disabled children is made within elective hospital settings as well as acute hospital settings to minimise the future need for complex surgeries.

Mr Donnelly told the council that he sincerely regretted that children can experience a long waiting time for orthopaedic treatment and he remained conscious of the burden that this placed on them and their families.

A special area of focus for himself and his department was that of paediatric orthopaedics. He said that last January he had asked the HSE to develop a dedicated initiative to improve paediatric orthopaedic waiting times and in February he had met with senior officials of Children’s Health Ireland and the HSE, as well as senior orthopaedic clinicians from Temple Street, Crumlin and Cappagh Hospitals to discuss the finalisation of the proposals to improve orthopaedic services and activity levels. “The plan proposes ambition additional activity which will work to reduce the number of children waiting for spinal orthopaedic procedures (including for scoliosis and spina bifida patients) by year end”.

Minister Donnelly said that the latest initiative was further evidence of the Government’s commitment to improving access to scheduled care. Both current and capital funding had been provided to a value of e19 million in 2022 to support the plan, which included funding from the waiting list access to care fund for 2022.

“This will facilitate increased activity across Children’s Health Ireland sites, additional use of services at Cappagh Orthopaedic Hospital through ‘Cappagh Kids’ and associated diagnostic and staffing supports.”