Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am highlighting an issue that has been causing ongoing difficulties, which I have mentioned previously to the Department. It concerns diagnoses and assessments for those with autism. According to a study from the Irish Society for Autism, about one in 100 people in Ireland have autism. It is imperative that if a person is presenting with autism, he or she receives an assessment as soon as possible to determine the services and supports that are required.

The reason I raise this issue as a Topical Issue is borne out of huge frustration in that I submitted parliamentary questions on 9 June and I was informed today that the questions were misdirected within the HSE. This is hugely frustrating. It is a source of great difficulty for many families in Waterford to find out how many children are currently waiting for a full diagnostic assessment for autism in Waterford University Hospital, the composition of the team, whether all the positions are covered, how many psychologists on the autism team can give a full diagnostic assessment, how long will it take to recruit staff, and what the HSE plan is in the absence of a fully trained psychologist to undertake the assessment procedure. These issues are barriers that parents and, more particularly, young children face every day. I have been waiting for an answer for nearly five weeks and this is a source of huge frustration.

I am also concerned that vacancies currently remain to be filled. It has come to my attention that the speech and language therapist on the autism team in WUH will be leaving in July. This leaves the diagnostic team without a psychologist and a speech and language therapist. These are two key roles. If a child presents with difficulties and a diagnosis for that child is not provided, it prevents the child from getting the services in a timely way. We all know that the sooner services can intervene with the child, the better for the child and, more important, the better the outcome in the long run.

By way of example, I refer to the case of a young boy who, as far back as November 2013, was assessed by the speech and language therapist who concluded that the child was showing some clinical significant markers for autism. It was stated that he would be monitored in future sessions and that he would be referred to the autism team as required. There were further reports from the occupational therapist and assessments were carried out over a number of months which were referring this child to an autism spectrum disorder team for the assessment. The family was informed this would happen in February or March of 2014 and, to date, nothing has materialised. I use this as a case study to show the frustration. It has taken five weeks for me not to get an answer from the HSE and it has taken this young child and his family over a year not to get a service. That is not good enough.

It becomes more idiotic. In the meantime, the family has paid for a private assessment which can be accepted by the Department of Education and Skills but the HSE will not accept it. We have a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs who sits as a full Cabinet Minister and yet we cannot get the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills to work together for the betterment of our children's health, development and well-being. It is a crazy scenario. I understand the Minister of State may not have all the answers here tonight but he can see the frustration that is created when arms of government do not speak to or engage with each other. It creates huge frustration for parents who are very stressed and very concerned about their child's welfare and development.

Over recent months I have tabled a number of parliamentary questions about speech and language therapy staff in Waterford. We have significantly lower numbers of staff compared with other counties in the south east. It is a situation which results in huge frustration for children and their families right across Waterford city and county.

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