Parents of children and teens facing 20-month delays for vital equipment to help them overcome serious walking disabilities have set up a group to fight for access to the supports.

HSE budget woes are leaving some children confined to wheelchairs while they wait up to 20 months for special disability equipment.

CHILD protection services are “dysfunctional, ineffective and inconsistent” and do not safeguard the rights, welfare and best interests of a child, a former HSE social worker has claimed.

DRUG addicts receiving treatment are to be monitored by a special patient-tracking system following a failure to keep check on recovering users in methadone programmes.

DEMAND for drug and alcohol addiction treatment is expected to soar due to the economic downturn, the HSE warned after it emerged that five people were referred every day in the first nine months of last year.