I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. I am disappointed that the Minister for Health - or a Minister of State with a health brief - is not here to respond to the debate. I have been informed by some of my constituents about unacceptable waiting times for occupational therapy. Occupational therapy is important for people who may have suffered an injury that requires their home to be adapted. An occupational therapist will visit a person's home and compile a report in respect of the disabled person's grant The relevant form cannot be completed without an occupational therapy report. The form will not be accepted by South Dublin County Council without such a report, so it is vital. I will speak about three of my constituents who received this news. I have their permission to mention them tonight. Larry is to turn 80 this year. He needs a stairlift installed in his home because he has a pacemaker due to a heart condition and is regularly out of breath. I contacted the HSE for Larry and the response I got was that he would be waiting 330 weeks for an appointment. That is over six years. The Minister of State has to agree that a six-year waiting list for an occupational therapist for anybody is unacceptable. I am lost for words that an 80-year-old man was told he must wait six years for occupational therapy. I was speaking to Larry myself and he told me that when you get to 80, you are lucky to think six months down the line, never mind six years. Angela is a woman in my constituency. She is not 50 and broke her hips two years ago. She has not been able to go up the stairs in her home since. She has told me she has to travel to her daughter's home in a different county just to be able to wash herself. She has also been told she will be waiting 330 weeks for an appointment. Sarah-Jane is a young woman in her 30s but she has mobility issues and needs the assistance of her 71-year-old mother to be able to shower. Her mother is finding this more difficult over time. Sarah-Jane was referred in March 2022 for an occupational therapy appointment so she could adapt her home. She was not told she would have one in 330 weeks like the other two constituents; rather, she was told there was no appointment date for her. She is not even getting an appointment in six years. Such delays are having an abject impact on people's quality of life. These are just three cases. I could mention more from my constituency. I have written to the Minister for Health and have requested that she urgently examine these cases and introduce the necessary measures. I do not know what the Minister of State's response will be, but if it is a matter of a staffing issue, it must be addressed urgently. Six years is far too long to wait. Furthermore, there is a postcode lottery for care in Dublin Mid-West. If the three people I mentioned were in a catchment area in the constituency with a different primary healthcare centre, I expect they would not have to wait so long. Care should be based on need, not on where you live. Also, it should not be based on the ability to pay. In the response I received for Sarah-Jane, the HSE advised her to go private. A public health service that is in place to serve the public is telling patients they should go private. The HSE also told Sarah-Jane she needs to recoup the costs from South Dublin County Council. I have been a councillor and know how South Dublin County Council works. It is not possible for residents in council homes to recoup the cost of private occupational therapists from South Dublin County Council. However, if Sarah-Jane lived in a private home and paid for private healthcare, she could recoup the costs. This is a two-tier system that discriminates against those who rely on the public health service. There is nobody who is not on the same page. I do not think there is a person in this House who would agree a six-year wait for an occupational therapist, so people's quality of life can improve, is acceptable. I am looking forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I thank the Minister of State. She mentioned priorities, triage and how people are assessed. Larry, who is 80 and whom I spoke about, is not priority 1. He is priority 2, and that is why he must wait for six years. Angela, who broke both her hips and has not been up her own stairs in two years, is not priority 1. She is priority 2. Sarah-Jane, who has to rely on her 71-year-old mother to get washed, is also not priority 1. She is priority 2. Whatever this triage system is, it is not working because Larry, Angela and Sarah-Jane are falling through the cracks. To make a bad situation even worse, if Larry, whom I will use as an example, has to wait for six years for an occupational therapy appointment, he will probably have to wait a further three or four years to get the disabled persons grant from South Dublin County Council. Larry, who is 80 now, could be 90 before he gets the stairlift he badly needs to get up his stairs. That is simply not good enough in a modern society. The Minister of State spoke about waiting list reductions and said there were 1.3 million appointments. That is absolutely fantastic but the reality in Dublin Mid-West as we speak is that if you live in Palmerstown and are waiting for an appointment for a physiotherapist, you will be left waiting because the service is suspended. A parent of a newborn child will not receive developmental checks for his or her baby if they have to go to Rowlagh health centre. This is because of staff shortages. The average waiting time to see a psychologist for a child in my area is four years. An adult living in Lucan who wants to see a psychologist will not get an appointment. That service is suspended as well. There are currently over 7,000 children in my area alone who are overdue an appointment for an assessment of needs. If you live in Lucan, you can expect your child to wait over two years for a speech and language therapy appointment. There are also 800 children waiting for an appointment for child and adolescent mental health services. That is just in Dublin Mid-West. Whatever work is going on behind the scenes really needs to happen quickly because patients, including children, are being left behind. The problems that they have now, because they are not being addressed, are just going to get worse.

Sentiment score: -0.14