‘Absolute scandal’: Donegal families angry over services for children with additional needs

There are serious concerns regarding services for children with additional needs in Donegal.

A lack of people in key positions such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychology has been described as an ‘absolute scandal’.

A recent report on the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) by the Mental Health Commission highlighted the deficiencies.

Letterkenny businessman Leonard Watson recently put himself forward as a parents’ advocate and says the issue has become an ‘emergency’.

“You’re just fighting all the time,” he said. “You can’t wait a year for a child to see CAMHS. It’s an emergency.

“We have asked the questions and we have met the HSE, but we’re being told ‘people don’t want to come to Donegal’. Myself and another parent did some research on the jobs. There has been no effort to fill these positions and it is an emergency in certain departments.”

The HSE this week confirmed to Donegal Live that there are currently 35.8 whole time equivalent positions vacant within the Donegal Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs).

In the CHO1 area which includes Donegal, over 30 per cent of those referred to CAMHS have been refused access this year. That figure has grown year on year from just under 20 per cent in 2020.

There are now 367 children on a waiting list for CAMHS in CHO1. The delays families face in access services have been put down to positions being vacant.

In the Donegal East area, there is no occupational therapist or psychiatrist while the recent report highlighted concerns about the management of clinical files and not having up to date reviews of some patients.

Mr Watson said: “You are trying to give these children the best chance in life and this is holding them back.

“We met with the Minister (Minister of State for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Anne Rabbitte) in July and to say that she was shocked was an understatement.

“A simple thing like checking for jobs on the HSE website doesn’t allow you to properly search for jobs. Search engines don’t filter these jobs either.  We’re at a stage now where families are being sent to Belfast for diagnosis.

“There are courses in ATU Donegal in physiotherapy and occupational therapy, but students are then going to Coventry for the final yearend the contracts that they’re getting aren’t from Donegal.

“The HSE aren’t ‘trying everything’ and they’re not doing ‘all that they can’.”

Mr Watson told how the speech therapist working with his family is now also their key worker.

“This whole thing is an absolute scandal,” he said. “A lot of families just aren’t living. This is embarrassing. These are children who need help and nothing is being done to help either the children or their families. We are just numbers.”

In response to a query from Donegal Fine Gael Deputy Joe McHugh, the HSE said a ‘number of bespoke campaigns for senior therapy grade positions over the last number of weeks’ have been advertised. They said a new recruitment campaign will be launched this month.

The current vacancies by whole time equivalent include 6.6 in occupational therapy, 5.3 in physiotherapy, 7.4 in speech and language therapy, five in psychology, three in social work, 2.7 in social care, two in administration, 2.8 as community facilitator and one in nursing.

The HSE says that positions are advertised through Facebook, its own website and Twitter.

A statement to Donegal Live added: “In CDNTs, a key worker may be allocated to a child and family from the staff who are working with them.

“One of the functions of the key worker role is to act as liaison between the CDNT team members and the child/family.”