A YOUNG BOY’S family, who were forced to take legal action against the HSE in order to compel the health service to carry out an assessment of needs for their son, are still waiting for a crucial diagnosis.

Three-year-old Noah is among the over 14,000 children who are waiting for an assessment from the HSE, which unlocks important access to essential state services – such as speech therapy and special education – for children with additional needs.

The backlogs and waiting lists are continuously growing, despite early interventions in such cases being extremely important. Currently, families and children wait two years for an assessment, and are often followed by further periods of waiting for services.

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne today told the Dáil about Noah, from Dublin North-West, who is autistic and nonverbal. He said the area and his constituents are under resourced, leading to “unacceptable delays”.

Hearne said the government is “utterly failing a generation of children with disabilities”. 

Noah’s mother, he said, had to first plead to the child disability network team to refer her son for an assessment, after two years of rejections. In October last year, the family took legal action to compel the HSE to carry out the assessment.

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne speaking in the Dáil this morning. Oireachtas.ie Oireachtas.ie

“They are still waiting for that assessment,” Hearne said, telling the Dáil that the family have been offered and incomplete assessment of need, one without a report from the National Council for Special Education or forecast date for completion.

He said this offer would render the assessment “effectively useless” in securing a school placement. While an assessment of need is not required for families to access services, children who have full assessments are prioritised due to staff shortages.

Hearne said that in the community health organisation that that his constituency is a part of, including areas such as Ballymun, Finglas, Santry and Glasnevin, had over 3,190 overdue applications for assessments.

More than 2,790 of those applications, he said, had been waiting more than three months for an assessment, as of the end of last year. Under the Disability Act, an assessment of need must be completed within six months.

Hearne added that over 2,590 children are waiting for an initial contact to take place with the child disability network team in his area and over 90% of them are waiting more a year – the highest number of children waiting 12 or more months in the country.

Another child, six-year-old Jack, has been impacted by these delays in Dublin North-West, Hearne said. Jack’s family and mother, Susan, have been placed under significant stress as they still have yet to secure a place in a special class for the next school year.

Responding to the TD, junior justice minister Niall Collins – who was substituting for disability minister Norma Foley – said that the government and HSE are committed to enhancing services for children with disabilities in Ireland.

He said that recruitment and training initiatives are currently underway to meet demand, and reminded the Hearne that diagnoses are not required for children to access services. Increased resources are also being met with more funding, Collins said.

Hearne said he welcomed the government’s response but said it was “inadequate” as families impacted by the issue are not in a position to wait. 

“They cannot be waiting for months and years for access to basic services and assessments of needs. Early intervention is key in this regard,” he said. “These families are struggling.”

Collins said he wanted to assure Hearne that the issue is receiving urgent attention.

Later in the Dáil, Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan raised the issue during Leaders’ Questions today. He said children with additional needs are being “left behind while their parents jump through hoops to try and access basic services”.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he acknowledged that parents have to “fight too hard, too long” for access to services and “in some cases” school places. He said that improving the issue is a “key priority” of his, along with housing and child poverty.