THE State has been accused of using “shadow waiting lists” to hide the true extent of the crisis in Ireland’s child disability and mental health services.
It comes as families are being forced to take court cases against the HSE in a bid to secure appropriate services for the children with at least six cases taken so far this year.
Under the Disabilities Act 2005, the State must complete an “assessment of needs” for a child within a six-month period which would diagnose their disability and outline services they need.
The State has repeatedly failed to meet this target, with figures released in November showing that more than 3,600 assessments are overdue.
The assessment is carried out by a multidisciplinary team and usually takes an average of 29 hours of clinic time.
However, the HSE has recently moved to a new Progressing Disabilities Services system with a new Standard Operating Procedure that sees children go through a rapid screening that can take less than 90 minutes before they are moved onto a different waiting list for a full assessment.
Sinn Fein health spokesman David Cullinane fears the new Standard Operating Procedure system was only put in place so the HSE can tick off the legal requirements under the Disabilities Act before bouncing children from waiting to waiting list while their needs are assessed.
He told The Irish Sun: “For most children, this new assessment is as short as 20 minutes. There’s no way you can determine if a child has a disability and the extent of it in 20 minutes.
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“So when a child gets their initial assessment, the HSE will say, ‘Oh, this child needs a multidisciplinary assessment’ and then they go onto a separate waiting list.
“So we have children being shipped from one assessment list to the other and there are hidden lists or shadow lists. It’s not fair on parents who have to battle to get access to services.”
Sinn Fein’s spokesperson on disabilities Pauline Tully said health workers such as speech and language therapists or occupation therapists have told her that they are leaving the public sector to take jobs in the private sector because they do not agree with the new system.
She said: “Clinicians are leaving because of the new assessment. They feel their professional way of doing things is being undermined.”
‘PRIVATE MEMBERS MOTION’
This week, Sinn Fein will table a Private Members’ Motion calling on the Government to cease the Standard Operating Procedure to skirt its responsibilities under the Disability Act.
The bill also calls for a cross-departmental plan to fix the staffing issues in Ireland’s disabilities services.
Deputy Tully said: “There needs to be a reorganisation, proper management structure, proper support structure and a plan for the recruitment and retention of staff.”
Deputy Cullinane added: “We want children to get a proper assessment on time and also to get access to the therapies they deserve.”
In a statement to the Irish Sun, the HSE confessed that in 2018 there were delays in investigating complaints as part of the Disabilities Act which have led to a number of court cases.
They said six cases have been taken so far this year based on delays in children getting assessed or getting the appropriate services along with a number of other court cases related to other aspects of the assessment of needs system.
‘INTERNAL REVIEW’
A spokesperson for the HSE told the Irish Sun that an internal review of the assessment of need system in 2016 found inconsistencies and inequalities in the services which led to the new change to a Standard Operating Procedure.
She said: “These changes are intended to alleviate the current situation where children in some parts of the country may wait a number of years before they can access an assessment.
“During this waiting period, they often have little or no access to intervention or support.
“It is intended that the changes in the Standard Operating Procedure, particularly the new preliminary assessment, will facilitate children with disabilities to access assessment in a timelier fashion.”
Despite these changes, children continue to be left on long waiting lists while families take the HSE to court to try and get appropriate supports for their children.