The number of children waiting more than a year for an initial speech and language therapy appointment has surged by nearly 200% over the past three years, reports RTE.
Labour Party figures also show a 170% rise in children waiting over a year for psychological support in the same timeframe.
The analysis was carried out by Labour, using data obtained through a Parliamentary Question posed by Health Spokesperson Marie Sherlock and comparing it with HSE workforce reports, reports RTE.
The data reveals that while demand for therapy services has nearly doubled, staffing levels have not increased at the same pace.
Deputy Sherlock described the figures as stark and said they represent “a broken system that is desperately failing children”.
Given the importance of early intervention, Ms Sherlock has urged the Government and HSE to “seriously rethink” both the Progressing Disability Services Programme and the Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023–2026, reports RTE.
She said a major shift is needed in terms of “how and where services are provided”.
Ms Sherlock suggested the creation of new types of support roles in psychology, speech and language, and occupational therapy to assist therapists, support staff, and service provision more broadly.
While she acknowledged the need to continue recruiting therapists and expediting their registration, the Labour TD said it was “highly unlikely” that Children Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) would be able to fill the 529.77 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) funded vacancies remaining from 2024, reports RTE.
Opposition parties will tonight introduce a Private Members’ Motion during Sinn Féin’s scheduled time, calling for urgent action on long Assessment of Need (AON) waiting lists.
An AON determines if a child has a disability, the associated health and educational needs, and the services required to meet them, reports RTE.
Some improvement had been made, with the backlog reduced from 6,058 in Q3 2020 to 1,718 by Q1 2022.
However, a High Court ruling in March 2022 found the HSE’s approach to preliminary assessments fell short of Disability Act requirements, reports RTE.
The HSE acknowledged that this ruling led to increased delays in completing AONs and said at the time that outsourcing private assessments was “challenging”.
Around a year ago, the previous government allocated almost €7 million in extra funding to address the AON backlog, in addition to a core budget of €5 million to contract private assessments, reports RTE.
The aim of the funding boost was to allow the HSE to deliver up to 2,500 additional assessments by November last year.
By law, AONs must be finished within six months of application, but only 7% of them are completed within that time frame, reports RTE.
In a recent statement, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said children were being “scandalously” left without the services they need.
She said the fact that 15,296 children are overdue for assessments is unacceptable.
That figure has increased from nearly 8,900 overdue cases at the end of 2023, reports RTE.
Tonight’s Private Members’ Motion comes as 14-year-old disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody begins a 50-hour protest sleepout outside Leinster House.
The Social Democrats have condemned the current state of services as “outrageous”, reports RTE.
They said the Disability Act is being “flouted as if it were an optional extra – instead of the law of the land”.
Statements from the Government on the same issue will precede the debate, giving Ministers the opportunity to detail planned actions and strategies, reports RTE.
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