Official figures from the HSE for the Northern Sound region has exposed serious wait times for families awaiting therapies for children. Following a request for information by Northern Sound, the HSE provided a breakdown of wait times for various therapies where families have been experiencing a backlog.
The longest wait time in this region is for children's speech and language therapy, which, currently stands at just one week shy of 200 weeks, or eight weeks short of three years. According to the most up-to-date HSE data, there is currently a wait time of 154 weeks for children's occupational therapy and a 136-week wait for physiotherpay. Any family in Cavan and Monaghan who joins the waiting list for a HSE psychologist in the CHO1 area will wait three years, 22 weeks.
In a statement, the HSE says the recruitment embargo created the waiting lists. Due to the HSE recruitment embargo "these services are currently operating below approved staffing levels and remain so under the recent directives in relation to Pay and Numbers Strategy and Financial Control Limits 2024", their statement said. The HSE said Cavan Monaghan Primary Care Services are "fully committed to providing services to all eligible patients" but must do so "within resource allocation and funding available" but it must manage these factors while ensuring "people with the greatest need are supported."
Cavan County Councillor Brendan Fay says he has received calls from parents who are at their wits' end as they are desperate for therapies for their children: "This particular woman contacted me; she has two sons with autism and her and her husband are spending hundreds of euro per week paying for private OT and speech and language therapies and they're on waiting lists with Enable Ireland," Cllr Fay explained, "They've also spoken to An Taoiseach and still nothing's come out of it."
