More than 1,200 children with suspected disabilities overdue needs assessments

The Health Service Executive is failing to carry out assessments of need for disabled children within legal time frames, leaving more than 1,200 children overdue assessment at the end of March.

A summary of needs assessment reviews carried out by the HSE in the first three months of 2014 showed 1,215 children with suspected disabilities had not had a needs assessment completed within the six-month time limit set out under the Disability Act 2005, a 60 per cent increase on the same period last year.

The figures show that fewer than a third of children had their needs assessment within the legal time frame, which requires assessments to commence within three months of receipt of a completed application and to be completed within a further three months.

Paddy Connolly, chief executive of Inclusion Ireland, said the increase in the number of children awaiting needs assessments was a direct result of austerity and cutbacks to health services, adding that more investment was required to ensure needs assessments were being carried out in a timely fashion.

“Major fault-lines are appearing and it’s children with intellectual disabilities that are feeling it,” he said.

“This is not just about an assessment of need – this is about the capacity for these children to participate as citizens – it has such a knock-on effect on their lives if they don’t get these interventions at an early age,” he said.

Variations
Mr Connolly said there were "significant variations" in different HSE areas as to the length of time it is taking to process need assessments.

“Parents around the country should be able to rely on a uniformity of services regardless of what area they live in.”

The HSE said on Friday the number of applications for assessment had risen year on year since 2010 but no additional resources had been identified.

In 2012 it received 3,505 applications, an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year. In 2013 the number of applications received stood at 4,261, a 22 per cent increase, while figures for the first three months of 2014 show the number of applications is up 20 per cent on the same period last year.

Part of the increase is due to a widening of eligibility: originally the HSE and Department of Health interpreted the 2005 Act as applying to children under five. However, in December 2009 the High Court ruled all children born after June 1st, 2002, were eligible to apply at any time, regardless of their age.