Almost 3,000 children waiting on special needs assessment

TD for Dublin South West Seán Crowe has said that it is entirely unacceptable that the number of children in the CHO7 area that includes Dublin South West waiting on an Assessment of Need for services such as speech and language or occupational therapy has been allowed to reach almost three thousand.
 
Teachta Crowe said “Figures released to me by the HSE show that in the span of a year, the number of children in the CHO7 area that includes Dublin South West waiting on an Assessment of Need for services such as speech and language or occupational therapy has been allowed to reach almost three thousand. “There are now 2,812 children waiting on an assessment in the CHO7 area alone and this is putting them and their families in an impossible situation.
 
“This figure includes 1,243 children who received assessments that were deemed insufficient by the High Court and are now forced to wait yet again for a full assessment so that they may access services they so desperately need. “Parents are being forced to seek out private diagnosis which can cost hundreds, even thousands of Euro and it is entirely unfair that they are being put in this position.
 
“And once they have received a diagnosis or an assessment, there is a further two year waiting list for services and interventions by the local Children’s Disability Network Team. “This government has abandoned children most in need and seems to have no plan to deal with it. We are supposedly due a bumper Budget this year and I firmly believe that the Irish people want to see that money pumped into the public services where they can do the most good, such as in our disability and mental health services and the provision of social and affordable housing.
 
“Children should not be forced to grow up in homeless accommodation or wait years and years for the most basic of health interventions. Clearly, the system is broken in the CHO7 area with almost 3,000 children waiting for an assessment and no real sign or hope of it being fixed any time soon under this government.”