Tánaiste to seek answers from HSE on Drumshanbo girl with complex needs

Tánaiste Micheál Martin is to seek answers from the HSE with regard to a family living in Drumshanbo who have a young daughter with complex needs after their situation was raised in the Dáil this week by local Sinn Féin Deputy Martin Kenny.
Jennifer Flaherty previously spoke to the Leitrim Observer about seeking supports for her ten-year-old daughter Maggie who has complex additional needs.
Ms Flaherty explained that Maggie was treated for a very aggressive brain tumour as a baby. She was later diagnosed with autism and an intellectual disability, with the mother-of-two continuing that, in recent years, her mental health has deteriorated.
She said the local disability team referred Maggie to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). who recently launched the Intellectual Disability National Model of Service, a separate CAMHS service for children with an intellectual disability, however it is not available in the family's region of Sligo/Leitrim/West Cavan.
She said the neighbouring region of CHO 2, which consists of Galway, Roscommon and Mayo is also without services “so the north west is without any mental services for children with intellectual disabilities as it stands.”
Jennifer, who is a member of the group Families for Reform of CAMHS, said she was speaking out to help other families in the area who are experiencing similar issues.
Deputy Martin Kenny raised the issue with Tánaiste Micheál Martin in the Dáil this week saying that he had contacted the CEO at CHO area 1 in regard to Ms Flaherty's situation.
He noted that Ms Flaherty had been informed that there are “no services for her locally and she is not permitted to transfer to services in another area or to access private services unless she can pay for it herself. She has nowhere to access private psychiatrist services or to issue medication in those situations.”
He said he has tried to make contact with the CEO several times since then but has heard nothing back.
“This is the same issue for many children around the country. There are four intellectual disability teams in the state and yet the children in an area without one are not allowed to transfer to one of those four,” Deputy Kenny said.
He said the family “really needs help and are at their wits end and yet the HSE that we as a state pay for to provide these services are not providing the services and something needs to be done urgently for this child and others in the same situation.”
Mr Martin responded that it wasn't “acceptable” and “treatment should be available, it's the obligation of the HSE to provide for that young child and not to close doors in respect of access to the treatment that that child requires.”
Ms Flaherty said that while the “routine of school” has improved home-life slightly but “Maggie is not sleeping and still very anxious.”
She said she knows there are other parents in the same position and urged them to come forward.
“I understand that the recruitment can take a while but at the moment, the children are being locked out of existing services so it's just left us with nowhere to go.”
She said she believed more “power needs to be given to GPs and pediatricians because where parents are being advised that their children need medication, the only one who has the power to prescribe are psychiatrists so if they can't find them, they need to give power to the people who are already there. There has to be something that can be done for children like Maggie.”
Ms Flaherty said Maggie had been attending visits to a psychologist but “she went on maternity leave and wasn't replaced so now that service is no longer available for children.”
She said Families for Reform of CAMHS are to meet with Minister of State Mary Butler in the coming weeks and Mark Ward, the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Mental Health “is pushing for us to get a meeting in the person in the Dáil.”
She added, “People can find the group on Facebook and contact us there if they want to get involved” and the group is also for parents who have a child with an autism diagnosis and are finding it hard to find supports.
She concluded that the “it's proven difficult for anyone to take ownership or accountability of the situation.”