Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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15. To ask the Minister for Health the reason more than 1,000 Cork children under 18 years of age were waiting more than a year for occupational therapy assessment in January 2017. [20780/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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Primary Care Paediatric Occupational Therapists undertake a standardised and clinical assessment with the child, parent and or school, as appropriate. Referrals are accepted from G.P’s, Public Health Nurses, Senior Medical Officers, Teachers and Parents and urgent cases are prioritised.

I have been informed by the HSE that there continues to be an increase in referral rates to the Primary Care OccupationalTherapyServices in the Cork and Kerry Community Healthcare Organisation area. The number of referrals for the months January to March 2017 have increased by 20% on the same period last year which is impacting on the numbers waiting more than a year for occupational therapy services.

To address the waiting list issue, a pilot initiative to deal with children aged 3 to 5 years, which will have the effect of reducing the waiting lists overall in an 8 month period, is currently under consideration. If approved, this pilot initiative will get underway later this year.

This initiative is in addition to the current work of the HSE National Therapy Service Review Group established to address therapy waiting times, including those for access to Occupational Therapies. This joint Primary Care and Social Care project will include a detailed analysis of waiting times and resource deployment across the country. It will seek to make the services more responsive to people's needs and also to put in place a standardised approach to the delivery of Occupational Therapy services across the country.