“Spiraling” waiting lists for disability services in the west of Ireland have resulted in more than 13,000 children waiting up to a year before they can see a specialist.
The total number of children waiting for disability services in community healthcare organisations in Galway, Roscommon, Mayo is 13,806.
The areas with the longest waiting lists are ophthalmology with 6,126, and speech and language therapy assessment at 1,361. While waiting times can range from under 12 weeks to more than a year, some children can be waiting for more than two years.
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Labour Galway City West councillor, Niall McNelis [pictured above], has called the situation a crisis, and said the Health Minister, Stephen Donnolly, needs to formulate a plan that will tackle the waiting lists and allow for the hiring of more specialised personnel to help alleviate the backlog.
“Children’s disability services have been severely affected due to the Covid-19 crisis,” the former Mayor said. “In some cases, children having to wait up to two years for speech and language therapy is a hard statement to take, and is stalling their development and may lead to other problems in later stages of their childhood.”
