Children's Health Ireland has disputed Sinn Féin claims in the Dáil that 800 chemotherapy appointments for children were cancelled last year, saying there have been no cancellations in chemotherapy treatment.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil earlier today that a quarter of a million hospital appointments were cancelled last year, including 800 chemotherapy appointments for children.
However, a CHI spokesperson said tonight the majority of delays or deferrals are due to patient-specific reasons and based on clinical decisions relating to the patient's medical condition at the time.
It added that patients may need to be rescheduled for a number of clinical reasons, such as patient bloods indicating that treatment be deferred, a patient being unwell and unable for treatment and when treatment is no longer required.
They said that delays or deferrals due to inpatient beds or staffing are rescheduled to the earliest available bed or space, which is usually one or two days.
Day cases may take slightly longer to be rescheduled, but are also done as soon as possible, the CHI spokesperson said.
In response to the CHI statement Sinn Féin Health Spokesman David Cullinane said: "Late this evening, Children’s Health Ireland issued a statement challenging information on the number of cancellations of children’s chemotherapy appointments.
"This information was provided by CHI themselves to the HSE. The definition of a hospital cancellation is very clearly set out by the HSE and does not involve rescheduling treatment for clinical reasons.
"I am very concerned that the CHI are now challenging the very data that they themselves provided to the HSE and in turn to me."
Ms McDonald told the Dáil there was a lack of beds in hospitals and that more doctors were needed.
She also called for 3,000 new hospital and community beds, along with the lifting of the recruitment embargo.
Taoiseach Simon Harris said waiting times were improving in the health service, but he acknowledged that there was a "hell of a long way to go".
He said there were 28,000 more people working in the health service since the last general election, adding that 2,200 staff could be hired this year.
Mr Harris said he wanted parents of sick children to know that the Government would continue to invest more resources in the health service.
Ms McDonald accused Mr Harris of "playing to the gallery" in his response to her party's questions in the Dáil today.
She rejected an earlier comment from Mr Harris about the availability of Sinn Féin's health policy on its website.
"Really, I mean if this is what we are reduced to - the Taoiseach scouring peoples' websites and playing to the gallery, the television's audience at home," she said.
Raising the concerns of parents whose children are waiting for spinal operations, she said they were "not interested in smart alec responses from anybody".
"I appreciate your pledge not to engage in smart-alecky comments," Mr Harris responded, adding that he was "very happy" to meet the parents concerned "in the next couple of weeks".
Mr Harris also revealed that the Minister for Health told him yesterday that they were "working on a number of options" around treatment abroad.
The Taoiseach challenged Ms McDonald to show how she would fix the health service, accusing her of saying that her party's health plans would amount to half a billion euro less than what the coalition would spend.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Mr Harris said: "I find it absolutely fascinating that every day, Deputy McDonald's comes into the Dáil [saying] that she has all the solutions for the health service, she's going to fix this, she's going to fix that, she's going to fix the other.
"She has the faux outrage [and] she's raring to go. And at the end of the day, she published a budget that offered half a billion less to the health service than we provided.
"So, Sinn Féin partially would have underfunded the health service, would have provided less funding than others, yet they would have had more beds, more stuff, less waiting time.
"How does Mary Lou McDonald fix all the challenges in the Irish health service by providing this funding?"
The Taoiseach also accused Ms McDonald of populist politics over housing, saying she had not shown how Sinn Féin would bring down the average price of a house in Dublin to €300,000 from €400,000.
Asked about the UK Conservative government’s plans to ban tobacco, Mr Harris said he always had "an open mind" regarding any measure that would bring about a tobacco-free Ireland.
"We’ve made very significant progress as a country over the last number of years, but that progress has somewhat stalled in terms of the percentage of people in our population smoking, and I know Minister (for Health) Donnelly is very eager to continue to pursue this agenda," the Taoiseach said.
"Vaping is an area that we’re rightly prioritizing currently."
Govt 'failing' neurodiverse children
Labour leader Ivana Bacik accused the Government of failing neurodiverse children and their families.
She told the Dáil that her party had put down a private members motion a year ago which included a call for action in addressing the backlog in assessments.
"As we all know, receiving a diagnosis is a just a first step," Deputy Bacik said, adding that a "lack of diagnosis deprives children and their families of clarity."
Ms Bacik said the HSE's waiting lists were a huge part of the problem and that many families could not afford to pay for private assessments for their children, as they often cost in excess of €2,000.
She said Mr Harris had promised to break down the silos between departments to address the backlog in assessments.
"If this was really a serious commitment, would you not establish a standalone Cabinet committee on disability?" she asked.
The Taoiseach said the Cabinet Committee on Disability and Children would meet again on Monday.
"This will involve me chairing a Cabinet committee on disability issues once a month," he added.
Mr Harris said it was worth mentioning that workforce planning was key in terms of therapy posts in Ireland, saying there were not enough training places in Irish universities for speech and language and occupational therapy.
He said he would like to look at in-school therapies, adding that there were some pilot schemes ongoing in this area.
Additional reporting: Juliette Gash and Tony Connolly
