ADD support services are still inadequate

SUPPORT services for hundreds of children suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD) are still inadequate, despite years of campaigning from parents on the frontline dealing with the damaging condition, it has been claimed.

While awareness of the disorder has increased in recent years, there is still a shortage of health staff available to counsel and work with children in areas such as anger management, said the chair of a parents’ support group.

Stephanie Mahoney, head of the Hyperactive Attention Deficit Disorder group, was speaking after a plea for more resources to tackle the conditions by the parents of Brian Willoughby, an ADD sufferer jailed for life for the brutal murder of Brian Mulvaney.

“I think Brian Willougby has other problems, but the source is ADD and, if he had been seen earlier then it might have prevented what he did. It could have been avoided and that’s a tragedy,” said Mrs Mahoney, whose son, diagnosed at three, she describes as a “success story”.

However, there remain key problems.

“Services are available, but they are inadequate. Even if a person goes for a diagnosis and is found to have ADD, there is no staff to back this up, for example, if a child needs anger management.

“There’s money there but they cannot get the staff," said Mrs Mahoney, who added that it can take up to a year to get an appointment for assessment. “Awareness of the condition is much greater than it was, recognition that it exists and that it’s an actual condition.”

Support groups have sprung up around the country in recent years.

A recent conference attended by international experts attracted a crowd of 200.

Next week, a national umbrella body for the groups will launch a strategic review of services and hopes for the future.

Government interest in the disorder was low until a few years ago when the management and treatment of the condition was considered by a working group from June, 2000, which presented a report that attracted some criticism in March, 2001.

The group estimated that between 1% and 5% of school-age children suffer from the condition and it has recommended that all child and adolescent psychiatric teams across the country be beefed up. This has not happened universally, according to support groups. However, the government claims that extra funding of 6.061m was allocated in 2002 and a further €1.64 million in 2003. Each health board now has funding for a minimum of three consultant-led child and adolescent multi-disciplinary teams, according to the Department of Health.