The father of nine-year-old Harvey Morrison Sherratt, who died following a sudden deterioration in his health three weeks ago, after he had waited several years for spinal surgery, said his late son was “abandoned” by disability services throughout his short life.
Stephen Morrison from Clondalkin, Dublin, was speaking as Health Service Executive figures show almost 11,000 children were on a waiting list for an assessment by the HSE’s children disability network teams (CDNTs).
The figures also showed that 7,167 children were waiting more than a year for an initial contact from a CDNT.
Mr Morrison and his wife Gillian Sherratt have been fighting for the basic healthcare rights of children with disabilities for the past nine years.
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Their son, who was non-verbal, was born with complex health conditions including spina bifida and scoliosis.
In 2024, Harvey’s name disappeared from a Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) active spinal surgery waiting list. No specific reason has yet been given to the family as to how this occurred.
This occurred as Harvey’s scoliosis (curve on his spine) reached a life-threatening 130 degrees curve, crushing his rib cage and putting pressure on his lungs and heart.
Harvey eventually had his surgery at Temple Street hospital, Dublin, last December, which somewhat eased pressure on his organs. He died on July 29th after taking a sudden turn.
Reacting to the HSE figures in respect of the CDNT waiting list, Mr Morrison said: “All I can really say is that Harvey was abandoned by local disability services in 2019 and we haven’t really seen them since.”
Mr Morrison said Harvey, who could not speak, “waited five years for a talk device” from the HSE. He added Harvey was “seen very rarely, if ever” by their local disability services.
“Disability services have collapsed across the country. I’m not surprised by these [HSE] numbers,” Mr Morrison said.
He said, in his opinion, “the most complex children, like Harvey, have been written off” by the State.
Mr Morrison accused the State and health service of “institutional ableism”, a form of discrimination in favour of able-bodied people.
Harvey’s parents are to lead a public rally in Dublin city next Saturday, August 23rd, in memory of their son and to highlight years of prolonged waiting lists for children with complex health issues including scoliosis.
The family previously called for Tánaiste Simon Harris to resign and retire from politics completely after he pledged in 2017 that no child would wait longer than four months for spinal surgery.
In the end, Harvey waited years, but specifically 33 months on an active waiting list for his surgery, which came too late to fully correct the scoliosis that had twisted his spine, causing him pain on a daily basis.
[ Family of recently deceased boy Harvey Morrison Sherratt to meet Simon HarrisOpens in new window ]
CHI said following a recruitment process for an additional consultant orthopaedic spinal surgeon, one of five successful candidates had been hired and had begun working on August 11th this year.
“We acknowledge that waiting times for patients are still too long, and we continue to work to reduce the length of time that patients are waiting for appointments,” CHI stated.
It said a spinal surgery management unit established in 2024 had helped reduce waiting times for outpatient appointments by 40 per cent.
It said 303 spinal surgeries had been carried out and that 231 children were waiting for surgery.
The Scoliosis Advocacy Network has disputed CHIs figures and argued that 242 children were waiting for spinal surgery, due to an additional 11 children being placed on a waiting list at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Cappagh.
