The inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care in Children\u2019s Health Ireland must be more than a box ticking exercise which results in a report devoid of solutions, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice.<\/p>\n
Deputy Rice said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome the government\u2019s commitment to hold this public inquiry into CHI, however, it must be ensured that it is informed by advocacy groups and families who have been affected by failures in the care of children with scoliosis and spina bifida.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inquiry must be conducted in a comprehensive and efficient manner, and a report must be drawn up in a timely fashion – too many inquiries have been defined by endless delays and huge expenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cHarvery Morrison\u2019s parents, Gillian and Stephen, have campaigned tirelessly since the tragic passing of their son to ensure what happened to Harvey doesn\u2019t happen to anyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result of their dedication and the tireless campaigning of other parents, the terms of reference of the inquiry are to be drawn up in collaboration with parental advocacy groups, the Scoliosis Advocacy Network, and the Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy Group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is of utmost importance – the inclusion of these voices in shaping the inquiry is absolutely essential to its efficacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, the Minister for Health must outline a detailed timeline for moving forward with this inquiry – the government cannot delay in this regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cReport after report have revealed a multitude of failings in CHI – the recently announced integration of CHI into the HSE is a welcome, but hardly surprising, development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis inquiry is the bare minimum the children and their parents who have been affected by CHI\u2019s litany of systemic failures are due – it must move fast and provide real accountability once and for all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the meantime, we cannot lose sight of the fact that families are still being failed by a broken paediatric orthopaedic service in this country – work must be accelerated to improve services for children with spina bifida and scoliosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe inquiry, while necessary, must not be seen as a barrier or delay to fixing services in the short-term and delivering timely access to care – there is no room for retrograde steps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government must also state when the Nayagam Review, commissioned two years ago, will finally be published.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 20th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The inquiry into scoliosis and spina bifida care in Children\u2019s Health Ireland must be more than a box ticking exercise which results in a report devoid of solutions, according to Social Democrats health spokesperson P\u00e1draig Rice. Deputy Rice said: \u201cI welcome the government\u2019s commitment to hold this public inquiry into CHI, however, it must be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12553,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[540,723,11,642,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-childrens-health-ireland","category-health","category-padraig-rice","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n