HSE promises action as 6,058 children await assessment

The HSE has said it is taking extra measures to tackle the backlog of Assessments of Need after latest figures showed another 500 children had been added to the waiting list. File picture. 

The HSE has said it is taking extra measures to tackle the backlog of Assessments of Need after the latest figures showed another 500 children had been added to the waiting list.

Just weeks ago the Irish Examiner reported that 5,533 assessments of need were overdue, but data to the end of September show that the backlog of cases had grown to 6,058. Of those, the HSE said just 185 were overdue for completion because of exceptional circumstances.