The government must commit to a comprehensive recruitment drive to tackle the crisis in primary care services for young people, according to Social Democrats TD Liam Quaide.
Deputy Quaide, who is the party’s spokesperson on mental health and disability, said:
“Figures released to me reveal the abject state of primary care services for young people nationally.
“The longest wait for psychology for a young person is recorded as 706 weeks in Dublin North-West. In Galway it’s 500 weeks.
“The longest wait for occupational therapy is 502 weeks in Dublin North, while in Meath the figure is 452 weeks.
“The longest wait for physiotherapy is 369 weeks in North Lee, Cork.
“For speech and language therapy, the longest wait is 313 weeks in Dublin North-West.
“The number of young people waiting for primary care psychology services in Cork/Kerry has risen from 5,000 to 6,500 in the past year.
“It’s worth noting that I had considerable difficulty obtaining these figures from the HSE, who were originally only providing me with a category of ‘+52 weeks’ for young people waiting anywhere between one and 13 years for an appointment.
“One of the main purposes of primary care is to intervene early, before difficulties become entrenched and the young person might need either the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) or a Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT).
“Primary care services have been hamstrung by the HSE’s current recruitment policy known as the ‘Pay and Numbers Strategy’, as well as the official recruitment embargo before that. They have also been placed under immense pressure by the ‘Progressing Disabilities’ model of service, which saw the re-direction of thousands of young people from CDNTs into primary care.
“At no stage has the HSE attempted to recruit sufficient staff in primary care services to address the additional level of need. This has left families languishing on one waiting list after another, passed around from service to service with little to no support. Most primary care child and adolescent services around the country are now in deep crisis, with waiting lists out of control and staff morale on the floor.
“The first step in addressing this crisis is acknowledging its scale. It is essential that Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill commits to a comprehensive recruitment drive in primary care services for young people, and that both she and Disability Minister Norma Foley engage with clinicians on the ground to get a true sense of how dire the situation is.”
July 8, 2025