CHI spinal care inquiry to take place after death of Harvey Morrison Sherratt

An inquiry into spinal care at Children’s Health Ireland will take place, the parents of the late Harvey Morrison Sherratt have said.

The young boy, nine, died in July after a short illness and years of pain during which he struggled to breathe. He waited seven years for surgery – and was removed from CHI’s waiting list without the family’s knowledge – and underwent surgery last year when it was too late.

His heartbroken parents Gillian and Stephen met with Tánaiste Simon Harris and Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to discuss how the State failed their son.

They had been calling for the Tánaiste to resign after he pledged in 2017, while serving as Health Minister, that no child in Ireland would wait more than four months for scoliosis treatment.

The parents also called for a full independent statutory inquiry into spinal care at CHI, and said this was agreed to in today’s meeting.

Speaking afterwards outside Government Buildings, Gillian said: “Simon Harris and Jennifer Caroll MacNeill have committed to an inquiry into spina bifida and scoliosis care at Children’s Health Ireland.

“The terms and reference of this inquiry are to be drawn up in collaboration with parental advocacy groups The Scoliosis Advocacy Network and the Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Paediatric Advocacy group and the Minister for Health and the Tánaiste.

“We will be having a follow up meeting which will occur in three weeks time and we hope this inquiry will be the start of bringing about real and substantial change and bringing some justice for Harvey.”

Speaking before the meeting, Stephen said: “Tomorrow me and Gillian will meet with Simon Harris and Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. We will outline all the extremely scandalous care Harvey received, that the Irish public doesn’t even know about.

“And why a fully independent statutory inquiry is the only way forward.” The heartbroken parents previously said that their son’s death feels “unjust”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show, Gillian said she believes if the Tánaiste listened sooner and met with them “things would have been different”.

She said: “He made that promise in 2017, and then last year, after Harvey was removed from the surgical list, he stood up in the Dail and said that he’d meet us, and he didn’t.

“And that’s one of the big reasons that we’ve been calling him out, because in those emails, and, in all the emails the advocacy groups have sent to him, we’ve outlined these concerns for years.

“I said to him that it’s a pity that it took our child dying to have him willing to meet us now, because he ignored me when I tried last year. He was incredibly apologetic, but as far as I’m concerned, an apology doesn’t help these children.”

The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.

Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.