THE plight of a young West Cork mum left without vital support to help her daughter who has profound autism has been highlighted.
Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) raised the motion at a local authority meeting calling on the HSE to accelerate the recruitment of essential staff as she pointed out that it’s affecting critical services for children living with disabilities.
She said she was informed at a recent Regional Health Forum that there are currently 75.5 vacant whole time CDNT (Children Disability Network Teams) posts across the HSE South West Region.
‘This represents 21% of approved positions and these vacancies include roles such as speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and psychotherapy,’ said Cllr Bambury.
‘There are 634 children across HSE South West still on the waiting list for an initial contact with a CDNT. The consequences of these delays are far reaching and unacceptable.’
Cllr Bambury referenced the situation of a young girl with profound autism in West Cork who is currently receiving no therapies at all. She said her only support is respite service once a week.
‘This young girl has been left without a social worker as her assigned former social worker left her job and her CDNT team have yet to find a replacement,’ she said.
She said parents are expected to cope with a complete lack of therapies for their children and to jump through endless hoops to access minimal services, while also suffering significant financial burden as they’re forced to seek private care for therapies their children desperately need.
‘These children are slipping through the cracks and this girl’s story is not unique,’ said Cllr Bambury. ‘Over the past year I have encountered countless families in similar situations. Parents are exhausted, frustrated and financially strained.’
She said the current structures are failing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable children in society and added that she is not criticising the dedicated individuals working tirelessly within the CDNTs.’
Cllr Danny Collins (Ind Ire) seconded the motion and said the lack of early intervention leads to higher costs and the worst outcome for the child and their families.
‘Our government is failing our children and they have to buck up and get these waiting lists cut,’ said Cllr Collins.
