The HSE have confirmed that Laois are among the counties with the largest waiting list for speech and language therapy.
This was revealed to Independent TD Carol Nolan who raised the question to the Health Service Executive.
Laois are in the Community Healthcare Organisation (CHO) area eight which encompasses Laois, Offaly, Longford, Westmeath, Meath and Louth.
The number of patients in this area waiting for a first assessment as of March 2024 numbered 3,962.
Data from the HSE has revealed that among these on the list in area eight, 774 have been waiting between one and two years to be seen while 2,361 have been waiting between zero and eight months.
Deputy Nolan said: “The data provided to me today is profoundly alarming given the significant developmental consequences that follow from a lack of timely access to speech and language therapy, especially for young children.”
Nationally there are just under 20,000 people waiting to avail of these services however there is a disproportionate amount in Laois’s CHO area.
For example in CHO area 1 which comprises Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan there are only 852 on the list.
These numbers are only those waiting for initial and assessment and don’t even take into account those who require follow up therapy.
Nolan said: “It is completely unacceptable and indeed a national disgrace that people are being left to wait years.”
She also said: “I will continue to engage with the Minister for Health and indeed the HSE to see what more can be done to address this major problem.
!I know from my constituency clinics that this is causing huge pain and frustration to parents and adults alike who urgently need intervention and therapy.”
Laois’s CHO also has 56 people who have been waiting longer than two years for services and has a larger waiting list than Dublin which has only 1,021.
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