Cavan-Monaghan a children’s therapy ‘black spot’

The Cavan-Monaghan region has been identified as a national “black spot” when it comes to waiting times for essential children’s therapies.

Figures recently released by the HSE to Labour TD for Dublin Central, Marie Sherlock, show excessive wait times is an issue for families right across the country at the end of December 2024, however, this area even exceeds many others when it comes to getting timely appointments for some specialist therapists.

Delays in receiving treatment for various physical and mental conditions can delay a child’s physical development, education and social skills.

Cavan – Monaghan are in the HSE’s CHO1 catchment area, which also includes Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

While there are 810 children up to the age of 18 years in Cavan and Monaghan on waiting lists for occupational therapy, there are just 137 waiting to be seen in Sligo-Leitrim. Of that number in Cavan-Monaghan, 51 under the age of five and 505 children (five-18 years) have been languishing on a waiting list for over a year.

In Clare, for example, there are 111 children waiting for OT; while there are 926 on the list in Longford-Westmeath, 94 in Dublin South and 1,915 in Dublin North.Things don’t look much better for the 418 children awaiting physiotherapy in Cavan-Monaghan with 128 five to 18-year-olds waiting more than a year. Ninety-two children aged up to five years are waiting up to 12 weeks for physio but only one child in that age bracket has been waiting for a year or more.

Elsewhere, 858 families in Galway, 781 in Louth, 121 in Donegal and only 28 in Dublin South-East are waiting for the same therapy.

As you can see from the table printed in the Celt, the wait times for initial assessment by a speech and language therapist in Cavan and Monaghan is at crisis point with 1,604 local children on that waiting list.

Some 327 of those children are waiting between 12 and 18 months for their assessment, 275 have been waiting up to two years and 295 have been waiting more than two years.

To put that in perspective, there are 863 child patients in Limerick, 461 in Waterford and 1,328 in Dublin North who find themselves in the same limbo situation. Once children have received their initial assessment in S&L therapy, there are 53 children in Cavan – Monaghan waiting up to four months for their first therapy session. As the table shows, however, the number starts to climb again as children require “further therapy”.

Nationwide, the number of children waiting over one year for initial S&L therapy has almost trebled over the past three years.

Figures compiled by the Labour Party also show a 170% increase in those waiting over a year for psychology support in the same period.

The party’s spokesperson on Health, Marie Sherlock, compared the number of staff providing therapeutic staff has been a fraction of the jump in demand for therapies and services.

‘Disgraceful’

Meanwhile, Noeleen Smith of the Cavan Autism Parents Support group (CAPS) says the figures do not come as a surprise to many local parents like her who have been waiting for the therapies their children need.

“This crisis has been ongoing for years,” Noeleen told the Celt, “It’s nothing short of disgraceful.”

She outlined the importance of early intervention and added: “Yet instead of progressing, thousands of children are regressing every day due to the lack of timely and appropriate services.”

The mother and campaigner said many parents including herself have lost hope of a resolution to the waiting lists crisis in the HSE.

“We’ve lost confidence in the entire system set up to address these waiting lists—it’s clearly not effective,” she said.

“Children with significant disabilities, including autism, are now reaching their challenging teenage years, early adulthood and beyond without access to consistent or meaningful support.

“These children deserve far better—and they are entitled to it,” Noeleen fumed.