40,000 waiting for vital speech therapy

Almost 2,700 people have delays of over one year

‘It undermines early intervention’

ALMOST 40,000 people are on waiting lists for crucial speech and language therapy services, the Irish Daily Mail can reveal.

Figures obtained by Fianna Fáil disability spokeswoman Margaret Murphy O’Mahony show there are 37,229 people – mostly children – on waiting lists nationwide.

Of that number some 14,974 are still waiting for their first assessment, but will face even longer waits to attend their first therapy session. In addition, 2,696 of these have been waiting for their appointments for over a year.

Ms Murphy O’Mahony, a TD for Cork south-eest, said the figures for the month of June which were released to her via a Parliamentary Question were ‘utterly disgraceful.’

‘The HSE Service Plan has a target that no-one should wait more than a year for assessment or initial treatment but so far in Margaret Murphy O’Mahony 2018 it hasn’t been met’ she said.

‘In fact some 282 are waiting over two years, according to the figures. The HSE doesn’t have a target waiting time for further therapy where 597 are waiting over two years, more than half of them in Cork’ she added.

‘While no age breakdown is given for those waiting we all know that the overwhelming majority of those waiting are children. It is simply wrong that so many of those waiting have to do so for so long. It completely undermines the principle of early intervention.’ Mrs Murphy O’Mahony expressed deep concerns over the impact a two-year wait for treatment could have on the development of a young child.

‘Children in particular are not getting the speech and language and occupational therapy needed from the State.

‘This is resulting in delays in getting therapy and is further frustrating emotional, behavioural, and academic development problems’ she said.

The TD also highlighted a dip in the recruitment of speech and language therapists, which has actually decreased over the last year while waiting list numbers continue to soar.

‘I am also concerned that the recruitment of speech and language therapists has stalled in 2018 with 926 employed in community health organisations in May 2018 compared to 928 at the end of 2017’ she said.

For those awaiting their initial assessment, the situation is at its most dire in the midlands, where there are 2,654 waiting to be seen in areas like Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Longford and Meath.

But this is closely followed by North Dublin (2,476) and South Dublin, including Kildare West and Wicklow, (2,413). There are 672 patients waiting over a year for an initial assessment.

Patients in the south east of the country, in places like Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow, are experiencing the biggest backlog as they wait for their first speech and language therapy session, with 1,672 on waiting lists in the region. Of those waiting on their first therapy session, some 628 have waited for a year or longer.

The HSE were contacted for comment, but no response was forthcoming at time of press.