‘Urgent action’ needed on HSE waiting lists as 20,000 Cork children require therapy services

Almost 20,000 Cork children are waiting for access to therapies through primary care.

Children requiring health and therapy services access them publicly through the HSE’s primary care service.

Waiting list data for the end of last year, provided to Labour TD Marie Sherlock, shows Cork & Kerry as the region with the longest waiting list for psychology, with 6,216 children on the list at the end of 2024, 5,275 of them in Cork — 2,137 in South Lee, 1,899 in North Lee, 769 in North Cork, and 470 in West Cork. Of the Cork total, 3,456 were waiting more than a year.

A total of 3,736 Cork children were waiting on first-time assessment for occupational therapy — 1,541 in South Lee, 1,219 in North Lee, 647 in North Cork, and 329 in West Cork.

Of these, 890 were waiting more than a year.

There were 5,287 Cork children waiting for speech and language therapy, with 1,116 of these waiting more than a year. Of the total on this waiting list, 1,410 of the children were awaiting an initial assessment, 1,670 were on the waiting list for initial therapy, and 2,207 were waiting for further therapy.

Some 2,235 were awaiting an audiology appointment, including 1,343 children under four, 421 of whom were waiting more than a year.

A further 787 children were awaiting a physiotherapy appointment, 869 were waiting for dietetics treatment, and 1,115 were awaiting ophthalmology treatment.

IMPACTS

A HSE spokesperson said: “The HSE acknowledges the challenges in meeting the demand for children’s disability services and is acutely conscious of how this impacts on children and their families.”

They explained that work is ongoing on a roadmap for service improvement aiming to “achieve a quality, accessible, equitable, and timely service for all children with complex needs as a result of a disability and their families”.

The roadmap has four working groups tackling areas such as the workforce, communications, and access to services. These groups report to a service improvement programme board every month which in turn reports to an oversight group chaired by the minister of state for disability.

There were also 699 children in Cork and Kerry waiting for an initial contact from the children’s disability network teams (CDNTs) as of the end of last year.

This included 169 waiting less than four months, 127 waiting four to seven months, 92 waiting seven months to a year, and 311 waiting more than a year for an initial contact.

A HSE spokesperson said: “There are significant challenges for CDNTs, including significant staffing vacancies, growth in numbers of children with complex needs as a result of their disability, and growth in demand for assessment of need, diverting further resources away from interventions.”

Labour’s disability spokesperson, Cork senator Laura Harmon, told The Echo the figures are “very concerning”.

“There is a need for urgent action to address the lack of access to therapies and treatment,” said Ms Harmon.

“We need a clear timeline that sets out measures that will be made available in Cork and nationally to support children with additional needs and there must be a rollout of much-needed in-school therapists, as well ensuring that every child will have a school place in September.”