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“A FASTER AND more efficient” way of carrying out an Assessment of Need (AON) for children and their families has been announced today.
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley said today that legislation will be required to introduce the reforms, which she said will take time.
Under the Disability Act, an AON is an assessment carried out by the HSE for people with a disability. The assessment identifies health and education needs and what services are needed to meet those needs.
Today, there are around 18,000 people waiting of an assessment, and the list is growing.
Carrying out AON reports is “tying up therapists’ time unnecessarily”, said Foley, who added that some assessments are taking over 30 hours to complete.
While she said some assessments are “complex”, she wants scope within the system for decisions to be made earlier, if possible, so that children can receive the supports earlier.
Under the reforms announced toady, guidelines will be set for assessment officers to make clear that the AON process should be focused on establishing the health and education needs for a child, rather than lengthy and complex reports on a diagnosis of disability.
There will also be additional supports and training for them, said the minister.
These changes will be made by amending the 2005 Disability Act, which set up the AON process.
Foley reiterated today that the changes “will not remove any rights for parents to apply for an AON for their child, nor will they alter the statutory six‑month timeline set out in the Disability Act”.
She also pointed out that even under the current rules, children do not need an AON report to get access to services.
“In fact, in some cases, children may already be receiving supports or services, whilst awaiting their statutory assessment of need,” she said.
The HSE will set up 11 expert teams with four staff on each, including a psychologist, a speech and language therapist and an occupational therapist, as well as an administrator.
These teams will be recruited from early next year, with an aim to have all teams in place by the end of 2026.
The government believes this will help to speed up the process, because assessment officers will have the expert help that they need at an earlier stage, explained Foley.
The minister told reporters today that the statutory guidelines to support the AON process to be faster, will free up therapists from “writing endless reports”
“We know that HSC clinical staff are spending up to a third of their time on completing assessments under the AON process. The more time they spend in the completion of clinical assessments under the Act, the less time they have for the therapy intervention that children need,” said the Children’s Minister.
The minister said that 30% of children at the end of the AON process are found not to have a disability, but do have a need.
A total of 45% of all of the assessments that have been completed in the first nine months of this year have made an autism diagnosis.
There will also be a new autism assessment process launched by the HSE next February, the Children’s Minister announced today, stating that it will be staffed by psychologists.
The new Autism Pathway process, being developed by the Department of Education, is set to be in place for the academic year of September 2027.
Aside from this, there will also be a nationwide single point of access system, which will make it easier for families to be referred to the right service, whether it is the Children’s Disability Network team, a primary care team, or the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHs).
Another important development is the new process relates to the admission to special classes and special schools. Under the new rules, children will not require the production of a professional report, such as an AON report, to gain access to these services.
“All of these changes will give families a faster way of getting the service their children need, rather than relying on the AON process,” said Foley.
Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for Disability, Emer Higgins, said that the 18,000 waiting list for assessments of need needs to be tackled urgently.
“Demand has doubled in five years. We can’t fix that overnight, but like parents, we want to bring that list down. We want to ensure that children get access to therapies quicker. That’s the loop that we’re trying to create,” said Higgins.
“The honest thing to say is this will take time to progress,” said Foley, who said that the HSE and the Department of Education will be making the changes announced, but it “will not happen overnight by magic’.
She said the legislation will be a priority for this government.
There have been 6,300 clinical assessments commissioned from private providers for AON since June of 2024, but Foley said relying on private reports is not going to fix the system.
She also commented that she would like to see stronger regulations around psychologists who are carrying out such private assessments.
Over there years there have been a number of campaigners who have spoken out about the system being broken.
Teenage campaigner Cara Darmody has returned to protesting this week, deciding to repeat her 50-hour protest outside the Dáil over the government’s failure to deliver the assessments on time.
Cara is protesting the government’s failure to meet the 6-month legal limit for assessing autistic children, with her main demand being for an immediate emergency plan to recruit therapists nationally.
The minister said she wanted to sincerely acknowledge the commitment and passion of Cara and her father, Mark, and their ongoing campaign.
“I have met Cara on a number of occasions, and she is absolutely passionate in her advocacy. I want to reassure Cara and all families waiting for assessment that the government recognises and shares the concerns that they have raised,” she said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this year that the HSE is “not in a position to fulfil the law right now” when it comes to meeting the statutory six-month timeline for providing assessments of needs for children with disabilities.
The Dáil will debate a motion on the issue this evening, but a number of Opposition parties have criticised the announcement today, stating that it is not being matched with resources.
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