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 \u201cabandoned\u201d by disability services throughout his short life.<\/p>\n
Stephen Morrison from Clondalkin, Dublin, was speaking as Health Service Executive<\/a> figures show almost 11,000 children were on a waiting list for an assessment by the HSE\u2019s children disability network teams (CDNTs).<\/p>\n The figures also showed that 7,167 children were waiting more than a year for an initial contact from a CDNT.<\/p>\n Mr Morrison and his wife Gillian Sherratt have been fighting for the basic healthcare rights of children with disabilities for the past nine years.<\/p>\n Their son, who was non-verbal, was born with complex health conditions including spina bifida and scoliosis.<\/p>\n In 2024, Harvey\u2019s name disappeared from a Children\u2019s Health Ireland<\/a> (CHI) active spinal surgery waiting list. No specific reason has yet been given to the family as to how this occurred.<\/p>\n This occurred as Harvey\u2019s scoliosis (curve on his spine) reached a life-threatening 130 degrees curve, crushing his rib cage and putting pressure on his lungs and heart.<\/p>\n Harvey eventually had his surgery at Temple Street hospital<\/a>, Dublin, last December, which somewhat eased pressure on his organs. He died on July 29th after taking a sudden turn.<\/p>\n Reacting to the HSE figures in respect of the CDNT waiting list, Mr Morrison said: \u201cAll I can really say is that Harvey was abandoned by local disability services in 2019 and we haven\u2019t really seen them since.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Morrison said Harvey, who could not speak, \u201cwaited five years for a talk device\u201d from the HSE. He added Harvey was \u201cseen very rarely, if ever\u201d by their local disability services.<\/p>\n \u201cDisability services have collapsed across the country. I\u2019m not surprised by these [HSE] numbers,\u201d Mr Morrison said.<\/p>\n He said, in his opinion, \u201cthe most complex children, like Harvey, have been written off\u201d by the State.<\/p>\n Mr Morrison accused the State and health service of \u201cinstitutional ableism\u201d, a form of discrimination in favour of able-bodied people.<\/p>\n Harvey\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The family previously called for T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> to resign and retire from politics completely after he pledged in 2017 that no child would wait longer than four months for spinal surgery.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n