Thousands of children waiting for therapy in Western Trust

Robin Swann released details of occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy waits in response to Assembly Questions tabled by Emma Sheerin, the Mid Ulster Sinn Féin MLA.

“The most recent data available for the Western Health and Social Care Trust has 758 children and young people waiting for an occupational therapy assessment.

“Of this, 594 children and young people have been waiting over 13 weeks, and the longest wait is 203 weeks,” he said.

Across the north, there were 2,286 children and young people waiting for an occupational therapy assessment.

Figures for speech and language therapy reveal the Western Trust has ‘806 children and young people waiting for a speech and language therapy assessment, with the longest wait being 32 weeks’.

And the minister confirmed that the ‘Western HSC Trust has 265 children and young people waiting for a physiotherapy assessment, with the longest wait being 21 weeks’.

Across the north there were 1,769 children and young people waiting for a physiotherapy assessment.

The release of the wait times comes after the ‘Journal’ recently revealed almost 500 children and young people were awaiting psychological assessment in the Western Trust at the end of May, with the longest wait over three and a half years.

Figures released by the Health Minister Robin Swann showed 481 people were waiting for paediatric psychology and therapeutic LAC (Looked After Children) psychology assessments at May 31, 2022.

The vast majority of these children (368) had been waiting in excess of a year and the longest wait time was 1,310 days.

Over 200 waiting for ‘long-COVID’ checks