Fresh statistics released to Aontú TD Paul Lawless show that the number of children under the age of 5 years who are either waiting or being supported by Primary Care Teams in Co Mayo has increased dramatically in recent years.
The data was released to Deputy Lawless following a Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Health.
It shows that Primary Care teams have seen 712 young Mayo children in need of physiotherapy over the past five years. Last year 32 young children received Occupational Therapy in Mayo, which is the highest number since 2021.
There are currently 4,861 children under the age of five on the Public Health Nurse caseload.
In terms of Dietetics there were 240 children seen in Mayo last year which represents a massive increase since 2021.
Primary Care teams have seen 31 children last year in need of psychological assessment or support, out of a waiting list of 150 children under the age of five years.
3,098 children were receiving Speech and Language therapy last year, but the figures show that in 2021 this was 403 due to the fact that speech and language therapists were deployed to assist with rolling out the Covid-19 vaccinations.
Speaking today Deputy Lawless said:
“This is quite extraordinary. Primary Care teams are clearly under a lot of pressure in the county in recent years. We must keep in mind that this data relates to the same time period where Community Disability Network Teams were being rolled out across Mayo. I’ve heard stories of where children who were receiving support in Primary Care were placed on CDNT waiting lists, and immediately discharged from Primary Care and left in limbo while they waited for a CDNT”.
Deputy Lawless continued: “The fact that only 31 children under 5 years old were seen by psychologists last year when the waiting list was 150 is deeply concerning. That means only 20% of the Mayo children who needed support or assessments were reached last year. I think I was a lone voice during the pandemic when I said that the government was wrong to redeploy Speech and Language Therapists as contact tracers or for the vaccine rollout, but the statistics released today show this was a huge mistake, with thousands of children in Mayo going untreated”.
“We have serious problems with staffing in CDNTs. When I asked the question last year I was told that just one Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) is fully staffed out of fifteen teams across the entire West and North West Region, with a total of 53.7 unfilled positions. If we are to alleviate pressure on Primary Care teams we really must recruit more people to CDNTs and ensure that pay and conditions for the specialised therapists make the occupation more attractive, and also that we increase the number of college places for people seeking to work in the field. No child should be left behind. Behind each of these statistics is a struggling child and an anxious family, they deserve better”, concluded Lawless.
