Complaint

A parent complained to the OCO about the lack of services available to their seven year old son with autism. For a three year period following the child’s diagnosis, he did not receive any speech and language therapy. He had received an occupational therapy assessment recommending further intervention but was still awaiting services at the time of the complaint.

At the time the parent contacted the OCO, the child was awaiting services through a specialist service provider for children with intellectual disabilities. There were substantial waiting times for these services ranging up to 4 years.

The HSE area concerned had decided that therapeutic services for children with autism should be provided through the local child and adolescent mental health services. However, these services did not have the multi-disciplinary resources required. This resulted in services being sought through community speech and language therapy and psychology. Difficulties arose due to staffing and resource availability as well as internal referral and administrative processes.

Findings

Having investigated the case, the Office made a number of findings on the administrative actions of the HSE and the service provider in relation to the planning and delivery of services for the child.

The Ombudsman for Children’s recommendations included:

• the need for redress for the child at the centre of the complaint including access to service provision;

• the need for improved care planning and transfer of cases across service providers;

• a review of waiting list difficulties and development of strategies to address same; and

• a review of service provision for children with autism in this area.

Outcome

During the course of the OCO’s investigation, the HSE developed a waiting list initiative which resulted in the child being provided with the services he required. A commitment was given by the HSE that these would be continued until he was able to access services from the specialist service provider concerned.

The HSE also confirmed to the OCO that service provision for children diagnosed with autism would be reviewed in line with the National Autism Strategy and the National Framework for Provision of Therapy Services for Children aged 6-18 years.

Posted in: Investigations Health