Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I hope she can catch her breath now.

In August, it was announced that a new multidisciplinary primary care assessment hub for children under the progressing disability services, PDS, programme was to open in Castleknock. That is very good news and is much welcomed. Obviously, it has prompted a lot more communication from parents to me about the children's disability network team, CDNT, waiting list in the area. I will give an overview of some examples I have received.

I have been contacted by a parent whose son is heading into secondary school. He has had one stage 1 desk-based interview. He has severe hearing loss, dyspraxia and, potentially, autism. His waiting time is 37 months for a stage 2 assessment of need clinical assessment.

I have been told about an eight-year-old who has been on the waiting list for an assessment of need for a year. This child, who has been referred to primary care services, is on a waiting list for child psychology but no time period has been indicated, and is facing a two-year wait for occupational therapy. This is in the Dublin 15 area.

Another parent has told me that since the switch to the CDNT system, in one year their child has seen the speech and language therapist, SLT, four times; the occupational therapist, OT, three times; and the physiotherapist twice. The SLT has left and there is no-one to replace her. Under the early intervention team, EIT, her son had one-to-one therapy at least every second week. That is in Blakestown.

In relation to transfers from the early intervention team in Blanchardstown, it seems that one person is manning the emails and the phones. I have been told by a few parents that they get the same text in response to emails. It reads:

We have received waiting lists of children from various services, HSE, CRC, DOC, school-age team and Beechpark Services. [They have amalgamated those multiple lists and are afraid to say that the waiting list is long.] The original date of referral for your child will be honoured. Currently I am unable to give you a timeframe when they will be seen by the team.

Another email said that the current waiting time is three years, and another said it is in excess of three years.

I would like to quote from correspondence from another parent:

When we were with early intervention we could access an OT, SLT and psychologist. They answered their phones and if they could not they would get back to you within 24 hours. On EIT we had regular phone support services with OT, psychologists, SLT, even though no diagnosis his needs were addressed and I felt empowered.

The question that she wants answered is: are they still doing that?

I am hoping the Minister of State can give me some clarity around the transfer to the EIT system and the CDNT system, with reference to the waiting lists for these parents and what is actually happening behind the scenes.They feel their basic needs are not being met. I know the Minister of State hears this all the time and is committed to changing it but the children and their families are exhausted.

This issue boils down to resources. Where are we with resources for CHO 9? Has there been a change to the HSE national panel of recruitment? I am consistently asked by psychologists if that issue is being addressed. These families are paying privately and they come from all walks of life and have different experiences and socioeconomic backgrounds. One family informed me their child will soon be seen because the HSE has outsourced the multidisciplinary assessment to a private company. Is that now happening?