Latest news with #AONs
Irish Independent
27-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Meath East TD says children's disability services 'chronically understaffed'
Speaking in the Dáil last week, and coinciding with the 50 hour sleepout protest of 14-year-old campaigner Cara Darmody, Teachta Darren O'Rourke highlighted that there are staffing shortages within the region's four Children's Disability Network Teams (CDNTs). He said: 'In Meath, in CDNT 2 covering the Kells area, and CDNT 5 covering the Navan and Slane area, one in four therapist posts is vacant. Figures released to me by the HSE, confirm that to be the case. In CDNT 4, covering the Ashbourne and Dunshaughlin area, it is worse, one in three posts is vacant. In CDNT 6, covering the Trim area, it is worse again - almost two in three posts are vacant, or 62pc.' A children's disability network team provides specialised support and services for children who have a disability and complex health needs associated with their disability. The CDNT supports a child's development, wellbeing and participation in family and community life. 'There is a complete lack of capacity in the system, and it isn't a new development. It is a chronic situation, and it means children with disabilities cannot access the essential assessments and therapies that they need.' "It is simply not good enough. There needs to be an urgency from the government to fill these posts - not just in Meath but right across the state.' Mr O'Rourke added that the staffing gaps also hit primary care services. He revealed that since April 2022, 1.5 whole-time equivalent paediatric occupational therapist posts based in Ashbourne and Dunshaughlin are vacant, meaning there is no occupational therapist in that primary care service. 'It is a natural instinct for a parent to want to get every help necessary for their child to reach their full potential but the services simply aren't there,' the Sinn Féin TD said. "On Assessments of Needs (AONs), the government must stop breaking the law. Instead of proposing to change the law itself, they should invest in children's disability services, ensure we train and employ sufficient therapists to meet the obligations provided for in the DIsability Act. Children need assessments and they need therapies. Government are failing on both counts."
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Taoiseach says legislation on assessment of needs should be changed
Micheál Martin said a decision by the High Court 'necessitates' a change in legislation to ensure therapists can provide services to children more quickly. It comes as teenage campaigner Cara Darmody, 14, began staging a 50-hour protest outside Leinster House this morning, against the backlog of assessment needs in the system. An assessment of need (AON) is carried out to identify if a child, children or young person has a disability, and is designed to identify their health needs as well as service requirements. Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months. The total number of applications overdue for completion at the end of March 2025 stood at 15,296 – an 8pc rise on the end of 2024. The HSE anticipates that by the end of the year there could be as many as 24,796 AONs due for completion. This evening, the Dáil will debate a combined opposition party motion during Sinn Féin private members' time. The Government is not expected to oppose it. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dail during Leaders' Questions: 'Children with disabilities are legally entitled to an assessment of needs within six months. Yet 15,296 children are left well beyond this timeframe, some for years, delaying their access to vital therapies and appropriate school places. 'One mother got a letter on Friday to acknowledge her application for assessment of needs, and was informed that the waiting list is in excess of three years. 'Even then, when you get your assessment of needs, the fight continues, the fight for therapies, for school places, for very, very basic services. Taoiseach, you have broken the law over and again. ADVERTISEMENT 'There is a legal requirement on you to provide an assessment of needs within six months, and you have broken that over and over again.' Mr Martin said that disability issues are now represented at the Cabinet table by a full minister. 'I am in the process of establishing the first ever disability unit within the Department of Taoiseach to troubleshoot and to co-ordinate across all government departments the provision of services for people with disabilities,' he added. 'The need is increasing all of the time. He said there had been a huge increase in resources in terms of special needs assistance, 'at about 23,400 now, we have 20,800 special education teachers, SNA alone is about a billion a year, and that's the way it should be', he added. He continued: 'In relation to the assessment of need, quite fundamentally, we need to change the legislation, the High Court decision necessitates, in my view, a change in legislation to ensure that therapists are directed and streamlined to provide services to children more quickly than currently is the case.' Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said there was a 93pc failure rate for assessment within six months, which was a "shocking" embarrassment. 'It's not tenable for the many thousands of children, 15,000 children nationally, who are now languishing on waiting lists, awaiting an assessment of needs. In breach of your government's own law,' she said. 'When the HSE receives an application Taoiseach, it's set out in law that the assessment of need must be carried out within six months." Mr Martin said the issue was not one of resources but one of capacity. 'But in my view, the standing upper rating procedure model that the HSE adopted was struck down by the courts, and the rationale behind it was to prioritise establishing the needs of children rather than providing the diagnosis immediately,' he added. 'I think we have to facilitate more recruitment of therapists from overseas, and I think the regulatory body needs to be flexible in that regard.'
Belfast Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
Taoiseach says legislation on assessment of needs should be changed
Micheal Martin said a decision by the High Court 'necessitates' a change in legislation to ensure therapists can provide services to children more quickly. It comes as teenage campaigner Cara Darmody, 14, began staging a 50-hour protest outside Leinster House on Tuesday morning, against the backlog of assessment needs in the system. An assessment of need (AON) is carried out to identify if a child, children or young person has a disability, and is designed to identify their health needs as well as service requirements. Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months. The total number of applications overdue for completion at the end of March 2025 stood at 15,296 – an 8% rise on the end of 2024. The HSE anticipates that by the end of the year there could be as many as 24,796 AONs due for completion. On Tuesday evening, the Dail will debate a combined opposition party motion during Sinn Fein private members' time. The Government is not expected to oppose it. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said that at the heart of Cara's protest is a demand that the Government complies with the law and ensures that no child is left behind. 'Cara is an exceptional and amazing young woman who stepped forward to fight not just for her brothers, Neil and John, but for all of the children so badly failed by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael governments,' she said. 'Children with disabilities are legally entitled to an assessment of needs within six months. Yet 15,296 children are left well beyond this timeframe, some for years, delaying their access to vital therapies and appropriate school places. 'One mother got a letter on Friday to acknowledge her application for assessment of needs, and was informed that the waiting list is in excess of three years. 'Even then, when you get your assessment of needs, the fight continues, the fight for therapies, for school places, for very, very basic services. Taoiseach, you have broken the law over and again. 'There is a legal requirement on you to provide an assessment of needs within six months, and you have broken that over and over again. 'Our motion tonight lays out the clear, concrete steps needed if you are serious about tackling assessment of needs, waiting lists and complying with your legal and your moral obligations. Ms McDonald made the comments during Leaders' questions while Cara sat watching proceedings in the public gallery with her father, Mark Darmody, Mr Martin said that disability issues are now represented at the Cabinet table by a full minister. 'I am in the process of establishing the first ever disability unit within the Department of Taoiseach to troubleshoot and to co-ordinate across all government departments the provision of services for people with disabilities,' he added. 'The need is increasing all of the time. 'The 2022 census is indicative of that, in terms of the increase in the numbers of people identifying with a special need, and fundamentally in education, there has been an exponential increase in investment. 'Huge increase in resources in terms of special needs assistance, at about 23,400 now, we have 20,800 special education teachers, SNA alone is about a billion a year, and that's the way it should be.' He added: 'In relation to the assessment of need, quite fundamentally, we need to change the legislation, the High Court decision necessitates, in my view, a change in legislation to ensure that therapists are directed and streamlined to provide services to children more quickly than currently is the case. 'We have a finite number of therapists currently in the country. The real objective has to be to use those therapists optimally in providing services to children. 'I say that very clearly, because I'm looking for solutions here, and I think that is one level we have to grasp, and it will be challenging, but it's one that we have at the Cabinet. 'I do believe the legislation needs to be changed, because to be fair to the court's ruling, it's then up to the legislature to deal with that ruling in terms of either amending the Act and so on. 'Because given the finite number of therapists we have, we can pass all the motions we like, but we have to deal in a very pragmatic solution-based approach right now.' Labour leader Ivana Bacik said: 'It's not tenable for the many thousands of children, 15,000 children nationally, who are now languishing on waiting lists, awaiting an assessment of needs. In breach of your government's own law. 'When the HSE receives an application Taoiseach, it's set out in law that the assessment of need must be carried out within six months. 'My colleague, Deputy Alan Kelly, has received responses to parliamentary questions which reveal that in the first quarter of this year, that legally binding six-month deadline was missed in a shocking 93% of cases.' Mr Martin said the issue was not one of resources but one of capacity. 'But in my view, the standing upper rating procedure model that the HSE adopted was struck down by the courts, and the rationale behind it was to prioritise establishing the needs of children rather than providing the diagnosis immediately,' he added. 'I think we have to facilitate more recruitment of therapists from overseas, and I think the regulatory body needs to be flexible in that regard.' Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O'Callaghan said that Cara has been highlighting the crisis in assessment of need and disability services since she was 11. 'No child should have to spend years campaigning and protesting for basic services. Cara should be in school today, like other kids her age, but she isn't,' he said. 'She's here in the gallery and outside the building during the day to highlight that services are getting worse, not better. 'She's watched her two younger brothers, Neil and John, who have additional needs, being repeatedly failed, and she's made it very clear that she's undertaken her protest for every child in the country that has been left behind.' 'Taoiseach, the Dail motion that the Social Democrats and other parties have tabled isn't asking for bells and whistles, it's asking for the Government to comply with the law. 'It should not take a 50-hour protest outside the Dail by Cara, just 14 years of age, to shame this government into action to provide assessments of need within the legal time limit of six months.'
Irish Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach says HSE 'not in a position to fulfil law' on disability assessments
The HSE is "not in a position to fulfil the law" requiring the completion of the Assessments of Needs process within six months, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has stated. The Fianna Fáil leader also suggested that legislation around Assessments of Needs must be amended. Tipperary disabilities activist Cara Darmody, 14, started a 50-hour protest outside Leinster House at 10am on Tuesday morning over the State's Assessment of Needs (AON) process. An AON identifies whether a child has a disability, the nature and extent of the disability, and any health and education needs that may arise. Under law, once the HSE receives an application in writing, they must start the assessment within three months and complete it within an additional three months. However, there are now 15,296 assessments overdue. In a parliamentary question response to Labour TD Alan Kelly, the HSE stated that it anticipated that as many as 24,796 AONs would be due for completion by the end of the year. Cara Darmody told the Irish Mirror that the Government is breaking the law by not completing assessments within the required timeframe. She said: "Three previous Taoiseachs, Micheál Martin, Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar, promised me change when I last met them and they didn't bring that change and they broke their promises. "They promised that they were going to help me to bring this issue to an end, that the Government would stop breaking the law and that didn't happen. "That's why I'm up here again, because Government are breaking the law by not assessing children within six months of the legal application when they apply for the assessment. "The government should be following the law and they should not be breaking and smashing the law. "This is the only issue in Ireland where they're actually breaking the law, and that is absolutely disgraceful." In the Dáil, Social Democrats' acting leader Cian O'Callaghan asked what actions the Government could take immediately and "will you start complying with the law?" The Taoiseach responded: "The HSE is not in a position to fulfil the law right now. You know that and I know that. "We have to respond to enable us to get therapy services to children as effectively, optimally as we can. "That is our agenda – To use the resources we have for children who need services. "That's both existing resources, how we add to those resources through recruitment and retention, and increasing the number of therapy places within our third-level colleges, to work on therapy assistance, more greater provision there. "But we have to, as a society, work smarter in terms of utilising the resources that are there right now in terms of therapists for the benefit of children." Mr Martin also said there needs to be a "change in legislation to ensure that therapists are directed and streamlined to provide services to children more quickly than currently is the case". Disabilities Minister Norma Foley said she accepted the AON system is "broken" as she suggested there will be a "root and branch" review. She said that the Government is "committed to streamlining the AON process to make it more efficient and to ensure that children are getting access to the therapies that they need". She argued that 30 per cent of assessments found that children have no disability at the end of the process. This, she said, could take up to 90 hours of assessments, which she branded "absolutely ridiculous". Minister Foley stated that, following engagement with Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary, AONs will no longer be required for people to gain domiciliary allowance. She also stated that she does not believe it is necessary to have an assessment to access social housing. Minister Foley also stated that she has engaged with the HSE and its CEO, Bernard Gloster, and she has accepted his "full commitment" to make this a priority. She added: "We will be working as a unit to ensure that where there might be issues of bureaucracy or where there might be issues of tardiness or whatever, that will not become the norm."
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
‘It's a national disgrace' – teenager to start 50-hour protest at Dáil as child disability assessment waiting list continues to soar
An assessment of need (AON) is carried out to identify if a child or young person has a disability, and is designed to identify their health needs as well as service requirements. Once the HSE receives an application, there is a legal requirement for the AON to be completed within six months. The total number of applications overdue for completion at the end of March stood at 15,296 – an 8pc rise on the end of last year. Last week, the Irish Independent revealed that just 7pc of assessments are being carried out within the legally required timeframe of six months. In response to a parliamentary question from Labour TD Alan Kelly, the HSE said that demand for AONs continues to outstrip system capacity, despite increases in activity and commissions from private assessors. The HSE anticipates that by the end of the year there could be as many as 24,796 AONs due for completion. Cara Darmody (14) is staging a 50-hour protest outside Leinster House from 10am today, against the backlog in the system. The disability rights campaigner will be supported by what she calls her 'coalition of the willing' made up of a combined opposition of Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats, People Before Profit-Solidarity, Independent Ireland, Aontú and others. Cara, from Ardfinnan, Co Tipperary, said the Disability Act has been 'broken' for almost a decade. 'It is a national disgrace and an international embarrassment in how we treat children in Ireland with autism or intellectual disabilities. It must end – right here, right now.' ADVERTISEMENT Cara was initially motivated to pursue her advocacy because her two brothers Neil (12) and John (8) have autism and intellectual disabilities. She said they were 'both failed dramatically by the State' in relation to the assessments and services they received. 'Every single day in our house is a struggle, and my mam and dad often go days without getting any sleep whatsoever.' However, she stressed that her advocacy is focused on the national picture rather than solely on her brothers' experiences. 'There are thousands of children rotting on waiting lists and thousands of families who are struggling and too scared to stand up to the Government,' she said. The combined opposition will bring a motion before the Dáil tonight, coinciding with Cara's demonstration, calling for an emergency fund to clear the backlog and to provide children with the assessments they are entitled to. The Government will not oppose the motion, but will promise to bring in wholesale changes to the AON system. Children's Minister, Norma Foley, is expected to say that legislation will be brought forward this year. Other reforms, including hiring more therapists will be 'progressed as quickly as possible'.
