Parents of children with disabilities are being ordered to attend training courses, so they can carry out therapies on their own children who remain on long waiting lists.
As the Irish Examiner reports, with 34,000 children now on community health waiting lists, parents say they have been told that if they do not avail of these courses, their children will be taken off HSE lists for therapies such as speech and language and physiotherapy.
Hitting out at the HSE, disabilities minister Anne Rabbitte said: "It’s simply not good enough that parents are still waiting several months or years to access crucial therapeutic supports for children."
She added that the HSE has not fully explained a shift to a new system of Individual Family Support Plans to parents, which has caused "difficulties" for families.
"Understandably, for parents, it looks like they’re being asked to do more while therapies don’t appear to be materialising on the ground. This can’t be allowed to continue and I want to see this strain eased.
"Parents are under pressure and some are really struggling to support their children. As I’ve said to the HSE a number of times, their communication with parents, in particular, has been poor," said Ms Rabbitte.
She is now working to fill over 270 vacant posts to address current waiting lists.
One mother, who has three children with disabilities, said parents are now at breaking point as they are being asked to take on several professional roles.
"If you say no to a course you are told that you will be taken off the waiting list. So if you don't do the course then you're not going to get the service as you are deemed as not needing the service."
"I have no problem working alongside a therapist, but I am not a therapist. Things at home can be quite stressful.
"I'm one person, but you are expected to do the job of eight or nine different people and you just can't do it; I have suffered burnout in the past."
