Patients could wait six years for occupational therapy due to staff shortages

One woman who broke her hips two years has had to travel to her daughter’s home out of the county in order to be able to wash herself

'Larry, who turns 80 this year, needs a stair lift installed in his home as he had a pacemaker due to a heart condition and is regularly out of breath. He was told he would be waiting for 330 weeks for his appointment, that is a wait of over six years.' Photo: iStock

An 80-year-old man was told that he could have to wait up to six years for occupational therapy.

Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward highlighted the case after the HSE told him that the current longest waiting list for treatment is 330 weeks. Mr Ward had written to the HSE to enquire about a constituent who had been referred to occupational therapy in March.

The HSE's response says the man's referral was categorised as P2 "in accordance with the Occupational Therapy service prioritisation criteria". "The current longest waiting time is approximately 330 weeks based on current resources," it adds.

"Unfortunately, the waiting times for our occupational therapy service remain longer than desired, due to the inability of the service to meet the demand within its current capacity."

The response goes on to say: "Dublin South City & West Integrated Healthcare Area are working to address the long waiting lists which are impacted by staff vacancies. 

"The HSE continue to review service needs and prioritise services for recruitment in line with the HSE's Pay and Numbers strategy. Every effort will be made to improve access and reduce waiting lists for the local population in line with this strategy."

Mr Ward said the long waiting list was unacceptable as occupational therapy is "important for people who may have suffered an injury that requires their home to be adapted".

“Larry, who turns 80 this year, needs a stair lift installed in his home as he had a pacemaker due to a heart condition and is regularly out of breath. He was told he would be waiting for 330 weeks for his appointment, that is a wait of over six years.

“Angela is in her 50s, broke her hips two years ago has not been able to go upstairs in her own home in all that time. 

She has told me that she has had to travel to her daughter’s home out of the county in order to be able to wash herself. She has been told she will also be waiting 330 weeks.

“Sarah Jane, who is in her 30s and has a number of mobility issues, needs the assistance of her 71-year-old mother to be able to shower. She was referred for an OT appointment in March 2022 so that she could adapt her home. The HSE has still not given her an appointment date.

“Sarah Jane was also advised by the HSE to go private for her OT. 

Our public health system advising you to go private is shocking. We cannot tolerate a two-tier healthcare system.

Mr Ward said delays are "causing a huge harm to these people’s quality of life".

In a Dáil debate last week, minister of state at the Department of Further and Higher Education Marian Harkin said the health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill had approved proposals to address occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy waiting lists through "a national initiative supported by the enhanced community care programme".

She said the goal of this initiative is to "reduce the waiting times for these three therapies to less than 10 months".

"The initiative aims to remove over 60,000 people from the waiting lists across these three therapies by the end of this year, with efforts currently under way in a number of Integrated Healthcare Areas."

• Paul Hosford is deputy political editor for the Irish Examiner