Advocating for Best Care
Why do Irish Children with Arthritis have the 2nd worst rate of care in Europe?
Waitling list to see Pediatric Rheumatology Team
- Wold Health Organisation guidelines state that a child should wait no longer than 6 weeks from referral to seeing a specialist.
- Waiting list in Ireland to be seen by Rheumatologist after referral:2 years 4 months.
- Recent studies have shown that the best outcomes for children with JIA come as a result of early, aggressive treatment of JIA. Delay in treatment can cause permanent, life-long damage to children’s legs, arms, hands and feet and and other joints; there are documented cases of this from the Pediatric Rheumatology team at Our Lady's Children’s Hospital.
Waiting list to see Ophthalmology Team
- Uveitis - a viral eye disease that can be caused by Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis where the optic nerve becomes inflamed. Delay in diagnosis and treatment will cause damage to the vision that cannot be treated or reversed and can result in blindness.
- Referral time should be not longer than 6 weeks.
- In Ireland the referral time is 9 months.
Lack of Pediatric Rheumatologists for Ireland’s population
- Ireland has 2nd lowest rate of Pediatric Rheumatologists in Europe.
- Even developing economies like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia - all have better care than we do here in Ireland for children with Arthritis.
- Ireland should have 6 Pediatric Rheumatologists for the size the population, however Ireland only has 2.
Ireland has no dedicated medical facility for JIA
