Boy's family challenges HSE over assessment of needs process

This is understood to be the first such challenge to the controversial process, which has been the focus of criticism from  those working with young children

The young child at the centre of the application "has significant health and education needs" and his mother, together with several therapists, believe he has displayed several indicators for autism and may also have cerebral palsy. Picture: Stock

The family of a young boy has launched a legal challenge against the HSE's Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need cases, in what is understood to be the first such challenge to the controversial process.

Judge Siobhán Stack granted leave to pursue judicial review of the HSE procedure, which was implemented in early 2020 and which has been the focus of fierce criticism from psychologists and others working with young children. 

Dublin-based solicitors EP Keane and barrister Feichín McDonagh SC brought the ex parte judicial review application on behalf of the minor and by his mother. As well as the HSE, the assessment officer is also named as a respondent and the applicants want an order compelling the HSE to complete an assessment of needs report and service statement in accordance with the Disability Act, and an order quashing an assessment of need report from earlier this year, which the boy's mother said was "entirely insufficient".

According to the pleadings lodged for the application, "any child born after June 1st 2002 is eligible to apply for an assessment under the Disability Act 2005" and an assessment report should set out - among other things - the findings of the assessment officer concerned, determinations in relation to whether the applicant has a disability, and "a statement of the nature and extent of the disability".

The young child at the centre of the application "has significant health and education needs" and his mother, together with several therapists, believe he has displayed several indicators for autism and may also have cerebral palsy.

The JR application claims that while an AON can take up to 90 hours to complete, under the new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), "assessments must now be completed within 60-90 minutes, regardless of the child’s needs."

The SOP was brought in by the HSE for applications for AON from mid-January 2020, and according to the JR application: "In reducing the time available to conduct an assessment in accordance with the legislation from an average of 29 hours to 60-90 minutes, the Respondent has brought about a situation whereby assessments of need are concluded with a finding of a disability being made but without the nature and extent of that disability having been properly identified."

The key aspect of the SOP, the Preliminary Team Assessment (PTA), "is a brief screening assessment only", the applicants claim, adding that the report "fails to set out the nature and extent of the disability".

"In following the SOP as opposed to the terms of the legislation, the assessment officer has failed in her duty to be independent and to implement the Disability Act 2005," the application claims.

"I say that it appears very concerning for any practitioner to recommend a diagnostic or intervention pathway for a child, knowing that they will not be seen within a suitable timeframe, given the known benefits of early intervention," the boy's mother said in court documents.

Earlier this year representative bodies for Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, and Occupational Therapy called for end to HSE Assessment of Need Preliminary Team Assessment.