Local families with children who has special needs are "in crisis" says Louth TD

Louth TD Peter Fitzpatrick has stated that families of children with autism and moderate learning disabilities, dual diagnoses, are in crisis in counties Louth and Meath. 

Speaking in the Dail today he said he was aware of 15 families who have adolescent children with autism and moderate learning disabilities who urgently require a psychiatrist's review while being told by the HSE that that service is unavailable as there are no psychiatrists on the HSE team. 

The Independent TD said that:

“In addition to no psychiatrists being available, the only paediatrician available in Louth and Meath is Dr. Maeve McCormack. Dr. McCormack will see only children who are 16 years of age or younger. 

“There is a four- to five-month waiting list to see Dr. McCormack. CAMHS will not see teenagers who have a dual diagnosis, while these adolescent children cannot be seen by mental health teams until they are 18 years old.

“Assessment of need is a statutory process under the Disability Act 2005, whereby the Health Service Executive reports on the health needs and, more recently, the education of a child. That is not being done. There is a loophole. We need a bit of help.”

In response, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman, who will take on responsibility for the above issues on 1st March said:

A new process regarding assessments had been adopted over a number of years. 

He continued:

“That was challenged in the courts. That process was found not to meet the requirements under the Disability Act, and that requires a reassessment of a very significant number of children and a new assessment process to be in place. 

“We want to ensure that the new assessment process meets fully the criteria of the Disability Act. We do not want this same thing happening again. That is what is taking place now. 

“There is an understanding in not only clinical terms but also legal terms that the new standard operating procedure for the assessment of needs is clinically and legally robust. 

“That will allow us to tackle the backlog and, going forward, will allow children newly presenting to seek assessments of need.”

Deputy Fitzpatrick responded saying he regularly has parents coming to his office regularly. 

“They go to CAMHS and everybody is trying to help, but they are not getting the help.

“What happens, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is that parents end up taking their children to accident and emergency departments. 

“If the child is 16 years of age, he or she is put into an acute ward. Then, all of a sudden, the child is in limbo. 

“People automatically think that if they contact a Deputy, a Senator or someone else involved in politics, that person will be able to help. We cannot help. 

He Continued:

“What do we tell parents who come in to us and whose children are self-harming, with suicidal thoughts and everything else? Where do they go? They go to CAMHS and, especially if they have some kind of disability, they have nowhere else to go.”

In response the Minister acknowledged that staffing pressures in Louth and Meath were a huge issue. 

“We have set up the CDNTs (Children's Disability Network Teams) across the country, but too many of them are understaffed. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I, working with the HSE, will bring forward a roadmap on progressing disability services. 

“That will, among other things, seek to tackle the issue of retention and recruitment of staff, which is where the biggest vulnerability is right now. Where we do not have staff, we have backlogs in terms of not only the assessment but also the delivery of those much-needed therapies.”