Waiting times for Leitrim children with disabilities much less than in other counties

Leaving a child with a disability without supports and services is "like leaving children abandoned in a classroom with no teacher and it's just unacceptable," Cllr Barry told the Leitrim Observer. 

Figures from the HSE show that nationally, 10,961 children are waiting for first contact from a Child Disability Network Team (CDNT) at the end of June with 7167 of those waiting over a year.

However, Cllr Barry noted that children in Leitrim are waiting just two months to be seen. 

A Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) provides supports and services for children who have complex needs associated with a disability.  

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Cllr Brendan Barry said that waiting times of this length were "totally unacceptable. It used to be called Early Intervention before the Child Disability Network Team (CDNT) and they were getting a lot of flack because children were so long waiting to get seen and to get therapies so they changed their name. For any child, the support and help they get in their youth will determine their outcome for the future and if they need a bit of extra help and support, they definitely need to be getting that earlier on to try and make sure they reach their full potential so it's just not acceptable."

There are two family representatives for Leitrim/West Cavan's Child Disability Network Team and Cllr Barry is one of them.

At HSE West and North West, which includes Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, West Cavan, Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, 779 children are waiting for first contact from a CDNT.

Cllr Barry continued: "Our meeting was on Thursday last week and in Leitrim/West Cavan, the waiting time is around two months from this initial assessment; from the point that the referral is accepted so it is one of the better areas and it is the second lowest in the country."

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Cllr Barry said that to ensure that children get the services they need as soon as possible, more staff needs to be hired and maintained. "They need more staff to be able to do the assessments more quickly and they need to retain the staff.  As a family representative, I've been told that there are a lot of difficulties in getting staff in Leitrim as well as Sligo, Donegal, Cavan and that staff vacancies are a huge issue. You can have staff off on maternity leave or other reasons such as illness and there can be vacancies there. Also you are looking at a job where there are huge backlogs and huge pressure; if there is a less stressful job within your field, you are more likely to apply for that. The big thing is just finding staff and retaining them."