Children forced to wait three years for speech therapy
And despite an increase in speech and language staffing levels — up 45% since 2005 — the waiting period in Wexford has remained the same since 2006.
Across Munster, waiting times are among some of the worst in country, ranging from at least six months for high priority cases in Tipperary to two and a half years for low priority cases in the South Lee area of Cork.
Waiting times in the Carlow/Kilkenny region dramatically increased since 2006.
In Kilkenny, the waiting time jumped from one year in 2006 to two years in 2008, while in Carlow it jumped from 18 months in 2006 to 36 months last year.
Wicklow waiting time for treatment is 21 months and has been since 2006, while in Dublin south the waiting period rose from nine months in 2006 to 21 months last year.
In Waterford, children with intellectual disabilities are waiting approximately a year and a half for treatment. This is down from a waiting time of just over two years in 2007.
Children with profiles classified as “low priority cases” in west Cork sit on a list for 18 months — another waiting period which has not decreased since 2006.
The figures reveal that young people with conditions such as Down Syndrome, autism, or other brain injury patients, are not receiving vital treatment.
And this comes at a time when speech and language graduates cannot get jobs with the HSE.
This lack of full-time opportunities means highly-skilled Irish professionals are opting to travel to Britain, New Zealand, Australia and North America to find work.
Chairman of Down Syndrome Ireland’s Cork branch, Colm O’Sullivan, said their branch is recruiting its own senior speech and language therapist from America, funded by the parents through donation, sponsors and activities.
He said the organisation had given up on the HSE.
As outlined in the Bacon report (2003), Ireland has an urgent need for additional speech and language therapists to meet the demand for services.
The Government reacted to the report by generating college places, but has failed to create more jobs.
Last summer Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he recognised the provision of speech and language therapy services had been a problem for some time, and while some areas have seen a decrease since 2007, many remained the same or increased.
