Dublin child waiting 13 years for psychological service, figures show
A Dublin child has been on a waiting list for psychological care for 13 and a half years, according to new figures.
The Social Democrats are calling on the Government to commit to a comprehensive recruitment drive to 'tackle the crisis in primary care services for young people'. Liam Quaide, the party's spokesman on mental health and disability, said HSE figures released to him through a parliamentary question reveal the 'abject state' of such services across the country.
The figures, seen by the PA news agency, list the longest wait for psychology for a young person as 706 weeks in Dublin North-West, the equivalent of 13.5 years. In Galway, the longest wait is 500 weeks, or more than 9.5 years.
The longest wait for occupational therapy is 502 weeks in Dublin North, while in Meath the figure is 452 weeks. The longest wait for physiotherapy is 369 weeks in North Lee, Cork.
For speech and language therapy, the longest wait is 313 weeks in Dublin North-West. Mr Quaide also said the number of young people waiting for primary care psychology services in Cork/Kerry has risen from 5,000 to 6,500 in the past year.
He was also critical of the initial approach taken by the HSE to provide data on children waiting more than one year, which obscured the extent of the delays experienced by some children. 'It's worth noting that I had considerable difficulty obtaining these figures from the HSE, who were originally only providing me with a category of '+52 weeks' for young people waiting anywhere between one and 13 years for an appointment.
'One of the main purposes of primary care is to intervene early, before difficulties become entrenched and the young person might need either the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or a Children's Disability Network Team (CDNT). Primary care services have been hamstrung by the HSE's current recruitment policy known as the 'Pay and Numbers Strategy', as well as the official recruitment embargo before that. '
The figures also show that 8,829 children have been waiting for more than two years for psychology services. Mr Quaide said postprimary care child and adolescent services around the country are 'now in deep crisis', with waiting lists 'out of control and staff morale on the floor'.
He said: 'They have also been placed under immense pressure by the Progressing Disabilities model of service, which saw the re-direction of thousands of young people from CDNTs into primary care. At no stage has the HSE attempted to recruit sufficient staff in primary care services to address the additional level of need.
'This has left families languishing on one waiting list after another, passed around from service to service with little to no support.' The HSE has been contacted for comment.
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