Sinn Féin spokesperson on Health, David Cullinane TD, has strongly criticised the failure of Stephen Donnelly and Simon Harris to deliver on the legal right of children with disabilities to an assessment of their needs.
Teachta Cullinane said that the legal rights of these children are being openly flouted with no plan from government to catch up on the backlog of assessments.
In a new Parliamentary Question reply, HSE Disability Services estimate that “there are approximately 15,000 applications ‘overdue for completion’ at this time” including nearly 10,000 assessments overdue for completion on top of a further 5,000 estimated applications which previously received an illegal preliminary team assessment. The vast majority are overdue by more than three months.
The TD for Waterford called on the government to lift the recruitment embargo to facilitate recruitment into therapy posts in HSE Primary Care to provide services and assessments for children with mild to moderate disabilities, to fully fund sufficient posts in Children’s Disability Network Teams for children with moderate to profound disabilities, and to put a long-term workforce plan in place for the health service.
Teachta Cullinane said:
“It is completely unacceptable that the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health have not only failed to vindicate the legal rights of children with disabilities, but have allowed the situation to get worse.
“When Simon Harris was Minister for Health, the number of overdue assessments had spiralled to 4,644, rising by 1,000 in 2019 alone. When Stephen Donnelly took office, this had risen further to 5,083 at the end of quarter 1 2020. Four years later and the backlog of assessments of need has doubled to nearly 10,000.
“This is on top of an estimated 5,000 illegally conducted assessments which must be redone, according to the HSE, bringing the total to an estimated 15,000 overdue assessments.
“Two years after the government was caught cutting corners when the High Court struck down their illegal shortcut preliminary assessment, they still do not have a plan to deliver on the rights of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities, whether mild or profound, are legally entitled to a full assessment of their need within 6 months of application. Their legal rights are being flouted yet government is enforcing a recruitment embargo.
“Children need an assessment for access to an appropriate school place. It is also required for many social protection supports for their parents and carers. Even where children have access to service waiting lists, they face excruciating waits for appointments. Delays in assessments means delayed development for children, and that is completely unacceptable.
“The government must lift the recruitment embargo so that HSE Primary Care services can hire the therapists they need for children with mild to moderate disabilities in their care; they must fully fund Children’s Disability Network Teams to deliver services for children with moderate to profound disabilities; and they must put in place a long-term workforce plan for the health service to deliver timely access to services as well as assessments.
“In the absence of a clear plan to deliver services, carry out assessments, and catch up on the backlog, what we’re seeing is a collapse in the system and an increase in waiting times. The Taoiseach, when he was Minister for Health, failed to put in place a workforce plan and children are suffering the consequences of that today. The current government must answer for this failure and urgently put a plan in place.”
The Parliamentary Question response can be read here.
