Minister criticises HSE for 'indefensible' delays in assessing children with disabilities

Disabilities minister Anne Rabbitte has now asked for a report from each of the nine community healthcare organisations on how many of the reconfigured assessment groups have received files for children. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Disabilities minister Anne Rabbitte has hit out at the HSE for an "indefensible" delay in assessment of needs for children with disabilities who are now waiting an average of 17 months.

It has emerged that children have effectively been left in limbo as their files have not been transferred to newly configured assessment groups, established to overhaul and speed up the assessment of children.