More than 60,000 children on waiting lists for vital services

Cork City councillor John Maher: 'The challenges families are facing without intervention don’t get paused during summer months.' Picture: Darragh Kane

Tens of thousands of children are on waiting lists for vital therapy services across Ireland, with many waiting more than 12 months to access services.

The latest HSE data shows more than 60,000 children were on waiting lists for occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language assessment and therapy around the end of May this year.

More than 16,000 of these children had been waiting more than a year for services.

Just over 11,000 children were on waiting lists for psychology services at the end of May this year, with almost 4,000 waiting more than 12 months.

More than 13,000 were awaiting their first occupational therapy assessment with more than 5,000 on waiting lists for longer than a year.

Meanwhile, almost 15,000 children were on waiting lists for an initial speech and language therapy (SLT) assessment with 1,612 waiting more than a year.

A further 7,151 were waiting on their first SLT therapy session while almost 10,000 were awaiting further therapy. More than 2,000 children had been waiting more than a year for both services.

The latest waiting list figures were obtained by the Labour Party.

Speaking to this newspaper, Cork City councillor John Maher (Lab) said: “The challenges families are facing without intervention don’t get paused during summer months.

We need to dramatically address the dearth of therapists urgently in real time, not in theoretical simple budgetary terms in September.” 

Labour local area rep for Cork City, Peter Horgan, added: “Families are at breaking point before any of these figures get referenced but we need to ensure that it is not a box-ticking exercise for families and children.

“We need to see continuing therapies and intervention that relieves the pressures and challenges families face daily.

“That comes from direct intervention from the Government, not a hands-off ‘this job is for the HSE’ approach.” 

A spokesperson for the HSE said the health service was working to ensure timely access to children requiring therapy services, and to reduce waiting times for these important services.

“Therapy services in the community prioritise the provision of care for those patients identified as having the greatest needs and the highest risk.” 

The spokesperson revealed that about 92,000 children were seen by occupational therapy services in 2021, along with 165,295 by SLT services and 33,120 by psychology services.

“Community based care is currently undergoing substantial reform in line with Sláintecare,” they added.

“This will involve a significant restructuring in how services are currently delivered and will ensure care is provided in an equitable, efficient and integrated way through newly established community healthcare networks.

“As we develop these networks and teams, we will naturally build the capacity of the primary care sector, recruiting around 2,000 additional frontline staff across a range of disciplines including nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and other healthcare professionals.

“The HSE’s Capital Plan also includes substantial investment in the construction of new primary care centres which will be key to providing integrated, easy-to-access care that is embedded in our communities,” they said.

“This significant restructuring and investment will ensure sustained and meaningful reductions to waiting lists into the future.” 

The spokesperson explained Covid-19 continues to pose “significant challenges” for many service areas, including all therapy services, resulting in changes in operating community therapy services nationally.

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“This has unfortunately had unavoidable negative impacts on waiting lists.

“The HSE continues to work hard to address these issues and find solutions to the difficulties resulting.”