Cork and Kerry have third highest number of overdue assessments of need for children
New figures show there are 4,797 overdue assessments of need for children around the country.
New figures show there are 4,797 overdue assessments of need (AON) for children around the country where there are no exceptional circumstances, with Dublin and parts of Kildare and Wicklow, as well as Cork and Kerry, among the worst-affected areas.
The latest figures, provided by the HSE in response to a parliamentary question by Cork North-West TD Michael Moynihan, shows some success in cutting the huge national backlog in AON cases.
At the end of last September, there was a national backlog of more than 6,000 cases but, by the end of December, in addition to the 4,797 cases there were another 281 in which there were exceptional circumstances, making it a total of 5,078 cases.
There were 1,296 overdue cases in CHO9, incorporating north Dublin, and another 1,023 in CHO7, which includes south Dublin, Kildare, and west Wicklow. The third worst affected area was CHO4, Cork and Kerry, with 994 overdue cases.
The HSE has allocated €7.8m to the various health areas to tackle the backlog and implemented a new standard operating procedure which has been criticised by professionals working in the area, including psychologists and speech and language therapists.
The response to Mr Moynihan, chair of the Oireachtas committee on disability matters, acknowledged "the challenges in meeting the demand for children’s disability services and is acutely conscious of how this impacts on children and their families".Â
It is understood that some teams are dealing exclusively with the AON backlog, while others are dealing with new cases.Â
However, sources familiar with the process said there were serious concerns over how the cases are being dealt with, including through the preliminary team assessments.
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