HSE delays in filling vital therapy posts "completely unacceptable"

Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has branded further delays by the HSE in filling vacant therapy posts across the midlands region as "completely unacceptable.

In a response to a representation from the Offaly TD, the HSE confirmed that despite a child being accepted for Dietitian and Occupational Therapy services at a Primary Care Referral meeting in December 2023, no appointment or timeline for therapy can yet be provided to the family.

The HSE also admitted to Deputy Nolan that while 12 new development posts for therapy services have been allocated to the Midlands, including two senior posts (one for Dietetics and one for Occupational Therapy) specifically for this area, it will still take “a number of months” for these posts to be occupied by clinicians.

"Successive Governments and the HSE have normalised a situation where there is effectively no service provision of any kind once you move beyond referral and diagnosis,” said Deputy Nolan, who pointed out that families in Offaly who have already waited well over fifteen months for vital therapy services now face a wait of several more months because "the positions cannot be filled promptly.”

While accepting that the delays are not due to funding issues, Deputy Nolan said they are "a clear failure" of recruitment and workforce planning. "Offaly and the midlands region has been given the posts, yet the HSE cannot get clinicians into them in a reasonable timeframe. Children cannot wait indefinitely while the HSE struggles to staff services that have already been approved” she said.

The Independent deputy has called on the HSE and the Minister for Health to treat the immediate filling of these therapy posts as "an urgent priority" and said interim measures must also be put in place to support affected families in the meantime.