A TOTAL OF 20 children have been waiting more than four months for spinal surgery, according to new figures to be brought before Cabinet later this morning.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will also updated his colleagues to confirm that any child who is waiting more than four months for surgery after Christmas, and is clinically eligible for such, will be offered treatment overseas.

Additional surgeons and staff are currently being hired by Children’s Health Ireland – the authority in charge of the State’s children’s hospitals – and capacity for these operations will be ramped up once the current backlog is dealt with, Donnelly will tell ministers.

Out of the total number of children on waiting lists, a further 20 have been selected to receive treatment abroad at hospitals in New York and London. Some of those children have already had their operations.

In 2017, the then health minister, and now Taoiseach, Simon Harris made a commitment during a committee hearing that no child would wait more than four months for spinal surgery in the country.

Waiting lists for spinal surgeries have since surged and countless examples have been shared in the Dáil and in the media of children who have been waiting up to five years for necessary care.

Despite this, the number of children who have been waiting more than four months has fallen significantly since the beginning on this year, when 86 children had yet to receive surgery according to today’s data.

Donnelly is expected to tell Cabinet later this morning that the HSE has been able to manage this and keep figures down despite an increased number of patients joining the waiting list.

Stephen Donnelly will tell his colleagues that 557 procedures have been carried out in 2024 so far. Alamy Alamy

In total, 557 procedures have been carried out in 2024 so far and there has been an increase in the number of outpatients being cared for – 335 children across seven clinics since April of this year.

A key project that has been keeping these waits down is the partnerships the HSE has created with the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York, Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, and Portland Hospital UK.

The partnership was recently discussed in the Dáil where Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald sought to receive commitments from the Government that the best possible care, supports and accommodations would be afforded to patients and their families when travelling.

The Taoiseach agreed to as much, and Donnelly has instructed his Department to assist with families through introducing a comprehensive support package, which includes the cost of flights.

Supports fund the child and one adult to travel in business class, in cases where the patient needs more room for mobility and comfort, and funds another adult’s travel costs as well.

This update comes as Children’s Ombudsman Dr Niall Muldoon recently said that it “remained critical” that children with scoliosis receive treatment as soon as possible to avoid the possibility of becoming untreatable.

Last week, he voiced concern that the issue of spinal surgery waiting lists was “falling off the priority list once again” as the country faces into a general election.