Children with special needs sometimes have to wait for more than a year for their first appointments with the government’s Child Development Assessment Unit, according to an internal government report.
Describing the waiting lists as “unacceptable” and “excessive”, a government-appointed task force found parents were forced to resort to pay organisations like Inspire and Equal Partners to receive services.
Although meetings with the unit’s medical team do not take long to organise, first appointments for other disciplines, like speech therapy, occupational therapy and psychological services, take months and, in some cases, more than a year, the report says.
The situation is further exacerbated when it comes to follow-up action and renders it “impossible” to provide follow-up sessions, reappraisal and reassessments within “a reasonable period of time”.
“Excessively long waiting lists are particularly a problem with regard to follow-up visits with the occupational therapy and psychology services and may be as long as six and 18 months, respectively, thereby negating the usefulness of these follow-up services,” the report notes.
According to the report, seen by The Times, there are about 450 new referrals per year and 597 children requiring follow-up.
“The end result is an inexorable sense of frustration from both the professionals concerned, who feel they are failing to deliver, and the parents who, understandably, feel their children are being deprived of an adequate service.”
Referring to the fact that many parents of children with disabilities must seek support from private institutions, the report says this depends on “one’s ability to pay private fees”.
In some cases, children end up being seen by more than one institution, causing a problem of duplication of services.
It concludes that the waiting times have to be addressed as soon as possible but that government psychologists are not in a position to take on any of the workload.
“Services for children with disabilities have to be extended and expanded into the community away from the exclusive domain of CDAU,” the report says.
The task force calls for the CDAU to focus on improving what it does best – initial assessment of all children. But follow-up and ongoing therapy should be “devolved” to third parties like Inspire and Equal Partners.
For such sub-contracting, the task force argues that NGOs must be funded and supported to provide services to a pre-set number of children.
The government should also engage more psychologists and psychology assistants, the report adds.
The task force was set up by Health Minister Joseph Cassar in September and has recommended a restructuring of the services provided to such children. The report is not expected to be made public but sources said it would be passed on to the government for political decisions to be taken.
The report was drawn up by Simon Attard Montalto, Roberta Attard, Nathan Farrugia, Lidwina Schembri Wismayer, Claire Attard and Michelle Bezzina.