HSE denies directing children to Clare clinic

THE Health Service Executive has denied that it is the policy of the HSE Speech and Language Therapy services to advise people to contact Clare Crusaders for Speech and Language Therapy treatment.

Last week, the manager of the Clare Crusaders Clinic, Ann Norton, claimed that the HSE was advising parents of children with speech and language issues to ­contact their clinic for therapy, ­because their waiting list was so long.
She said that the clinic in Barefield is currently dealing with 160 children for speech and language therapy, up from its previous quota of 135, an increase due purely to an increase in parents phoning requesting their speech and language services, having been advised to do so by the HSE.
Ms Norton pointed out that their services are for children with special needs, including autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities who have a speech and language issue as a result of the underlying disability.
However, the HSE response to queries regarding their speech and language services said that they do recommend that clients who are attending Clare Crusaders or Private speech and language therapists inform the HSE therapist.
“This is to facilitate liaison between service providers in the best interest of the child and in line with best practice,” the HSE said.
They also confirmed that there are currently 322 children waiting for initial assessment and the waiting times are up to six months in primary care community clinics, up to three months in the Clare Early Intervention Services and up to six months in the School Age Disability Team.
“The Speech and Language Therapy Department (SLT) department is actively working to reduce waiting times to up to four months for all client groups and in all areas of Clare and expect to have achieved this by November 2010,” the HSE spokeswoman added.
“It is important to note children are prioritised for therapy based on severity of need, for example, children with a diagnosed or query disability referred to Clare Early Intervention Services are seen for intervention within three months of initial assessment or children referred to Primary Care Community SLT clinics who are under four years of age and diagnosed with delayed language development are seen for intervention within two months of initial assessment.
“As of July 2010, the majority of children, 63%, wait no longer than eight months for therapy/further therapy,” she added.
In relation to how many speech therapists work in the Clare HSE local health area, she said that there are currently 13.9 whole time equivalent therapists in speech and language therapy services.
“There has been a high turnover in staff, particularly since May 2009.
“We have filled the majority of vacant posts but as of today there is one senior speech and language therapy post vacant,” the spokeswoman said.
She added that the Speech and Language Therapy Department is constantly striving to improve services and reduce waiting times for all its clients and expects to have the waiting time reduced to between 0 and four months for all referrals by November 2
“There are currently approximately 700 children receiving Speech and Language Therapy services in Clare that are not on waiting lists,” she confirmed.