Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Concerns have been raised with me that vital developmental checks are not being carried out on newborn babies due to a lack of public health nurses. Parents from Clondalkin, Lucan, Newcastle, Rathcoole and Palmerstown have contacted me with these concerns. When a baby is born, developmental checks are carried out at regular intervals from birth and throughout their infancy. A public health nurse visits and typically checks the baby's weight and overall health. The public health nurse is expected to carry out a developmental assessment when the baby is three months old. However, people from my area have been telling me that some babies are not getting this assessment due to a lack of public health nurses in their area. We all know that early intervention and diagnosis is key for children. These children and parents are being failed from birth.

One of the hardest things that I have to do as a public representative is to send on a response from the HSE to say that a child could be waiting for anywhere from four to six years for an assessment of needs. It is difficult for me as a public representative. I can only imagine what it is like for a parent who has to receive that letter. There is a postcode lottery for care for children, depending on where they live. In my area, the average waiting time in Clondalkin for an appointment with a community disability network team is two years. It is four years in Lucan and four and a half years in Palmerstown. Imagine how much a child can regress in four years. That waiting period is just to get assessed, not to get the other therapies that may be needed, such as speech and language and occupational therapy. I have responses from the HSE to state that parents are still waiting on an initial stage one phone call from a community disability network team after two years. What system is in place such that it takes two years to make a phone call? This is another example of how the Government has failed children.

We all know about the low staffing levels in CAMHS. It will be no surprise that I will finish on this. One of my biggest concerns with CAMHS is that it remains unregulated under this Government. I had legislation passed in February to regulate CAMHS but the Government decided to kick it down the road for nine months. Nine months is up on 28 November, the day before the much-speculated about date for the election. Children, parents and the staff working in CAMHS simply cannot wait for CAMHS to be regulated. I am calling for immediate action today to regulate CAMHS as the failure to do so leaves children at continuing risk.

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