Private child disability assessors were paid €1.3m more than projected

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

Private child disability assessors were paid €1.3 million more than projected under a Government initiative last year.

In May 2024, the Government announced an initiative to tackle a backlog of assessments of need (AONs) by procuring private assessments for families waiting the longest for checks.

An AON is carried out for children or young people with a disability and is designed to identify their health needs and service requirements.

Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months.

At the end of 2024, there were 14,221 AONs overdue for completion.

The Government’s initiative in May included funding of €6.89 million to facilitate the HSE to procure up to 2,500 additional AONs over the following six months.

The HSE reimburses clinicians directly through the procurement of capacity from approved private providers.

Information in a departmental brief says approximately 2,119 AONs were commissioned from private providers from June to November at a total cost of €6.98 million.

A further 360 were carried out in December, according to an answer to a parliamentary question in February, bringing the total cost to €8.2 million for 2,479 private assessments last year.

It equates to an overspend of €1.31 million, almost 20 per cent over the initial projections.

This works out at roughly €3,300 per assessment, over the initial target cost of €2,759.

The December figures suggests the cost of the assessment was higher that month than the average for the year.

The initiative is to continue this year with €10 million in funding allocated to deliver 2,850 assessments.

This funding includes €500,000 for adding workforce capacity in assessment teams. Taking this out of the overall figure, the Government is continuing with a new target cost of roughly €3,300 per assessment.

A briefing complied for Norma Foley, the new Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, calls for reform of the AON process.

It says: “There is a critical need to take decisive action to address the rapidly growing AON challenge.

“AON waiting lists are growing as demand outstrips capacity, while very significant therapists’ time – estimated one-third – is devoted to AONs.”