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THE PARENTS OF Harvey Sherratt (9) who suffered while waiting for scoliosis surgery, said today they were “shocked” at a whistleblower’s claims that Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) had removed their son from its active spinal surgery waiting list after it wrongly determined he was a “palliative” patient.
Harvey’s mother Gillian Sherratt was reacting to claims published in today’s Sunday Times.
The protected disclosure by an CHI insider, seen by The Journal, alleges the boy was later deemed to be “suitable for surgery once bone density is improved” by a consultant surgeon, based at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), who had examined the boy in Dublin in May 2024.
The disclosure alleges that despite senior CHI staff being made aware of this, management were misinformed that the GOSH consultant had in fact “agreed with the CHI opinion” that the boy was “not fit or ready for surgery”.
“Even if Harvey was palliative, which I can say 100% he was not, why is that not in his medical records, why was he not linked to a palliative care team, it makes no sense,” said Gillian Sherratt.
“Harvey wasn’t even on prescription pain relief, which you’d think would be the very least a child receiving palliative care would be getting,” Ms Sherratt said.
Ms Sherratt said the claims made in the protected disclosure came as a “huge shock” to her and her husband, Stephen Morrison.
Ms Sherratt said her son’s medical team “not once” mentioned during Harvey’s treatment that he required palliative care.
She said: “I think we would remember that discussion”.
Harvey’s parents are to meet Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and Tánaiste Simon Harris at a pre-planned meeting tomorrow to discuss terms of an independent inquiry into CHI’s handling of Harvey’s case.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said a “full independent statutory inquiry” is needed.
“These allegations are absolutely devastating. How on earth could a child in need of surgery be removed from the surgical list without the knowledge or consent of their parents? I’d like to know who knew about this within the CHI and who knew about this in government and when.
“We need to get to the truth. Why was Harvey removed from the list? Who knew about it?”
Ms Sherratt said she will be asking MacNeill and Harris for “clarity” on what the government’s response is to the protected disclosure, first reported by the Sunday Times.
“While it is incredibly shocking to hear, it does at least give us some indication of what was going on, and it shows that we haven’t been crazy in saying that there is systemic neglect within Children’s Health Ireland,” Ms Sherratt said.
“I want Jennifer Carroll McNeill, to get to the bottom of whether or not this was malicious or accidental,” she said.
“If this was done and done maliciously there are people that need to be in front of the medical council.“
“The first thing I want [the Minister] to do is to get to the bottom of actually what happened – the true version of events — the good, the bad, and the ugly of all of it, we want to know.”
“There could be other kids in a similar situation.”
The boy’s parents said, despite repeatedly asking CHI why their son had been removed from the surgery waiting list, they have not been given an adequate answer.
Ms Sherratt discovered her son was no longer on the waiting list in August 2024 when she contacted CHI querying why she had not heard anything about Harvey’s scoliosis surgery plan.
Harvey had been waiting at least three and half years for the surgery, and at that stage the curve on his spine had grown to a life-threatening 130 degrees.
Harvey eventually had the surgery in December 2024. However, despite his overall health improving after surgery, he suddenly deteriorated eight months later and he died on 29 July.
“It’s been fifteen months since I found out that Harvey was removed from the list, and it is just getting worse,” Ms Sherratt said.
“We still have no clarity or any accountability as to what led to that.”
Ms Sherratt said that she will continue to lobby the government for a full statutory inquiry into CHI’s management of services for children with scoliosis and spina bifida.
The protected disclosure, which was made initially in August 2025 and further information provided last October, also claimed that “threats to silence” a staff member were made after concerns were raised internally within CHI about Harvey Sherratt’s case.
The whistleblower stated they were making the disclosure due to their “concerns about patient safety” and “governance” at CHI.
A spokesperson at the Department of Health responded this evening: “In accordance with the Protected Disclosures Act, the Department of Health does not comment on individual protected disclosures.”
CHI and the HSE have also been contacted for comment.
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