Donegal parents of children with disabilities or additional needs say that their children cannot wait for the recruitment of more therapists.
The government heard heartbreaking accounts this week of families struggling without access to services from understaffed Children’s Disability Network Teams.
Vacancy rates in the teams in Donegal are around 40%. In North Donegal, it is 57%, In Donegal East, it is at 55%, with one speech and language therapist, no occupational therapists and no physiotherapists.
Parents have been forced to fund their own private services, with some paying up to €300-€400 per month for essential therapies.
Yesterday, Deputy Pearse Doherty gave the Dáil an account from a Donegal mother whose son is aged 11 with epilepsy. The child has very complex disabilities and is peg-fed and non-verbal. The child is a candidate for scoliosis as there is 80% curvature of the spine but is unlikely to get it because they have no support in the local area. The child’s last speech and language appointment was in November 2022 and the last physiotherapy appointment was in May 2023.
“In one family there is an eight-year old daughter. They fought so hard for the baby to be present in the world. She had open heart surgery at 16 weeks old. Her intervention team is practically non-existent. They say they got no help from the HSE at all to wean her off her feeding tube,” Deputy Doherty said.
In response to the crisis, over 600 families have united through social media to form the Special Needs Parents Network Donegal. The network, formed in September, has given renewed energy to the advocacy of children and their families.
Their current focus, the CDNT crisis, was discussed at a meeting on Monday between the HSE, parent representatives and local public representatives in Letterkenny.
Josephine Corkery, one of the spokespersons of the network, said the meeting was a valued opportunity for parents to give their perspectives on the challenges they face.
“The feedback we have from the HSE has been on recruitment, our perspective is that recruitment takes time and our children cannot wait,” Josephine said.
The network has called for four emergency measures to be taken to ensure children do not suffer.
The measures include equipment provision from the HSE, such as communication devices, wheelchairs and orthotics. Another action needed, parents say, is the urgent redeployment of therapeutic services from other areas into CDNTs. The group is calling for temporary support for families to pay for private therapy and diagnostics, while affirming that HSE therapy provision is paramount. The network is also seeking the regular provision of therapeutic support and guidance for schools, as teachers have reported being under pressure without support from their local CDNTs.
During a Dáil debate on Tuesday, Minister of State for Disability Services Anne Rabbitte acknowledged the recruitment difficulties, where there are 700 unfilled vacancies nationwide. She said she has convened a high-level working group to drive workforce planning for specialist disability services, acknowledging the need for system-level workforce projections, and to explore innovative ways to expand the disability workforce in the short term as well as engaging on medium-term planning.
Minister Rabbitte said she is “open to all options when it comes to supporting parents accessing services for their children”, which includes a ring-fenced support mechanism for parents who pay for private services. It’s hoped that this will be progressed next week.
In response to yesterday’s Dáil debate, Josephine said: “What we need to see now, and what we will be measuring is action on the ground, are our children able to access therapy between now and Christmas? Are our children getting support for equipment provision between now and Christmas?
“Every child deserves services in Donegal and no child can afford to wait. It’s impacting their access to education, their communication, their social skills, they are in pain, facing medical conditions, and we just can’t stand for it anymore.”