Over a third of Kildare young people in need waiting for HSE child psychologist for over a year

Sixty children in Kildare were waiting eighteen months or longer to see a psychologist at the end of October, according to figures given by the Health Service Executive to Kildare North TD, Catherine Murphy.

Overall there were 451 children on the waiting list, according to the information provided on October 29 last in a written parliamentary question (40955/19).

When average out, the county waiting list is just over 8.7 or eight and a half months.

It appears from a second PQ asked by Deputy Murphy that the HSE currently only has half the complement of psychologists it estimates it needs for the county.

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In total 37% of the children are waiting for one year or more and 61% of the group are waiting six months or over.

The Social Democtrat TD was told that in one area, Athy/Baltinglass, 48% are waiting one year or more and 76% are waiting six months or more.

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The best area, in times of short waiting, appears to be Naas/Kill/Blessington where there were 13 children on the list, five waiting between three and five months and eight waiting up to one month. There were none waiting six months or more in this area.

The area with the biggest numbers waiting was the Newbridge/Kilcullen area (129 children), followed by Athy/Baltinglass (117).

Deputy Murphy raised the matter in a Dail question and the HSE Head of Service for Primary Care responded.

There are two areas in Kildare with no psychologist cover at the moment, the Athy/Baltinglass area and the Kildare/Monasterevin/Rathangan area.

In addition to the 60 children waiting 18 months or longer, there were 108 waiting 12-17 months, another 106 waiting 6-11 months, one hundred waiting 2-5 months and 77 waiting for one month or less.

Of the 451 children, 61% are waiting six months or longer with another 22% waiting two to five months and 17% on the list for up to a month.

There are 37% waiting for twelve months or over.

The Newbridge/Kilcullen area represents 29% of the total, followed by Athy/Baltinglas (26%).

Next is the Kildare/Monasterevin/Rathangan area with 81 children or 18% of the total, followed by the Leixlip/Maynooth/Kilcock area where there is a total of 76 on the overall waiting list, equivalent to 17% of the total.

The Clane/Kilmeague/Celbridge area has 35 children on the list (8% of the total), while the Naas/Kill/Blessington area had 13 on the list, representing the smallest proportion of the six areas listed, 3%.

We averaged out the waiting list for each area, accounting (or weighting) for the proportion of children waiting for particular times.

The average waiting time was longest in Athy/Baltinglass - 10.8 months - followed by Newbridge/Kilcullen (9.3months), Kildare/Monasterevin/Rathangan (8.8 months), Leixlip/Maynooth/Kilcock (8.7 months), Clane/Kilmeague/Celbridge (2.3 months) and Naas/Kill/Blessington (1.7 months).

In a separate, but related question, Deputy Murphy asked the number of young people and teenagers awaiting psychologist intervention services in county Kildare, the waiting time for each district and the staff currently providing services.

These figures suggest that currently the HSE has about half  (7 of the 13.5 whole time equivalent (wte) staff) it requires for Kildare.

Deputy Murphy was told by Carol Cuffe, Head of Social Care (Dublin South, Kildare & West Wicklow Community Healthcare) that  in the North Kildare team there were 135 young people waiting approximately 24-48 months, depending on priority.

There was currently 1.8 wte staff working but the full complement should be 3.8 wte.

In South Kildare, the HSE said there were 228 awaiting such intervention services and the waiting time was up to around 24 months. South has 3.5 wte currently working and the HSE is currently recruiting another 2 wte people.

The Mid Kildare team had 95 people on the list with the waiting time up to 24 months, depending on the level of priority. There were currently 1.7 wte working and the full complement required is 4.2 wte.

On average the HSE anticipates there should be one staff person for every 34 young people and teenagers on the waiting  list. But it only has half that number.