Taoiseach: 'Very significant' resources put into reducing disability needs backlog

Anne Rabbitte hit out at the HSE for an 'indefensible' delay in assessment of needs for children. File picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said "very significant" resources have been put into reducing the wait for children needing an assessment of disability needs.

The average time parents are waiting for an initial assessment of their children stands at more than 17 months, despite a legal requirement for the assessment to be completed within six months.

Over the weekend, Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte hit out at the HSE for an "indefensible" delay in assessment of needs for children.

In a strongly worded email, Ms Rabbitte accused the HSE of “not giving a full and true reflection of what is actually happening on the ground” and said "if the HSE is trying to deplete the minister's confidence in their ability to deliver on their commitments, they are doing a very good job".

Asked about the delays, Mr Martin said the Government had provided significant funding to reduce waiting times.

"We have provided, since we came into office, very significant resources to reduce the assessment of needs, and in many cases got it down very, very significantly in the first year," said Mr Martin.

But it's the follow-on in terms of interventions and therapeutic interventions that's key there."

Mr Martin added: "Everybody has to work together on this, the minister is driving forward this and is very passionate about this and wants results in respect of therapies, and not just in terms of assessment, but in terms of actual therapeutic interventions for children who require such therapies."

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

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A letter sent to officials in the Department of Health by Ms Rabbitte's office last week stated that during a meeting with parents in Galway, "it emerged that while the teams have reconfigured, the team under discussion had not received any files whatsoever — zero. Needless to say, this left the minister quite shocked."

"It gives the impression of the HSE not giving a full and true reflection of what is actually happening on the ground," states the email, seen by the Irish Examiner.

Just 14% of the 1,270 applications for assessment received by the HSE between June and September were actioned and referred on to the relevant services, however, some areas including Cork North, Cork North Lee, and Dublin South West failed to process a single application.

A spokesperson for the HSE said: "As part of the safe transition of children to their new teams, summary reports on individual children are transferred until electronic or hard copy files are transferred over.

The spokesperson said this enables the new assessment teams "to prioritise both children in service and new children who can now access services based on complex needs for the first time".

The spokesperson added that during transition to the new structure, services would continue to be provided to children based on "robust risk assessments" and "prioritised needs".