'I am terrified for her future' - child (5) with scoliosis to wait 8 months for MRI

Carolann and her daughter Hannah.
A five-year-old girl diagnosed with scoliosis will have to wait between 8 to 12 months for an MRI scan.
Little Hannah, who lives in Kilkenny with her family, was referred by her GP to University Hospital Waterford (UHW). Her mother Carolann Walsh has been left devastated by the news that her daughter will have to wait so long for a scan.
Carolann (32) was also diagnosed with the same condition as a small child, and knows first-hand what her daughter is going through, both mentally and physically. Hannah suffers daily from recurring headaches and migraines.
"I am terrified for her future," said Carolann. "I’ve lived this. I know what untreated scoliosis can do. I’ve already got one child with generalized epilepsy, another with sensory issues and now my middle child is facing what I went through. How can it be that nothing has changed after all these years?"
In 2008, Carolann's own experience with accessing proper care for scoliosis made national headlines. In 2008, her operation for spinal fusion was cancelled due to cutbacks.
This terrible ordeal led to Carolann and her mother taking

to the media to highlight the delay in her treatment. Carolann finally received her surgery in September 2009, after an 18-month-long wait.
She stated: "It took media attention and a huge public outcry before I finally got my surgery date. That was September 2009 and it changed my life.
"But now, 16 years later, I’m fighting the exact same fight — this time for my own child.”
Speaking with the Waterford News & Star, Carolann said that after being diagnosed at age two, her own MRI scan took place three weeks after diagnosis.
She is extremely concerned, not just for her own daughter but for every child waiting on vital care and assessment.
"No child should have to wait in pain. No parent should have to beg the system for care.
"If the health service could find a way in 2009, it can find a way now,” she said.
UHW have been reached for comment.