Waiting for Scoliosis Treatment: A Children’s Rights Issue 2018

Since July 2009, my office has received complaints from parents on behalf of their children who have scoliosis and in need of surgery. Over a sustained period of time, we had been alerted to the very long waiting times children were experiencing to access scoliosis spinal surgery.

I decided in March 2017 to publish a report on the experiences of these children and to share their stories on what it was like to wait for long periods of time for life changing surgery.

Following the publication of this report ‘Waiting for Scoliosis Treatment: A Children’s Rights Issue’ and after exhaustive advocacy by parents, and professionals alike there was a commitment by the government to address the systemic issues that were causing these waiting lists.

• August 2018