The number of children diagnosed is soaring but as families reach out for help, the HSE (Health Service Executive) admits it's struggling to cope, reports Fiachra O'Cionnaith

Autism services across the country are struggling to meet the needs of children desperate for help because they are being swamped by a "huge increase" in demand.

Confirming the situation in an official response to a parliamentary question, the HSE has stated that the "huge increase" in the number of children being sent to specialist autism services is making it almost impossible to meet demand.

Disability

Autism is a serious disability that affects a child's development in terms of social interaction, communication and a range of other social skills.

The first signs of the condition can usually be identified by medics and disability experts before the age of three if enough time is spent diagnosing the child in question.

If such a quick diagnosis is made, the impact of autism on a child can be drastically reduced, with specialist care from multi-disciplinary medical teams specialising in intellectual disabilities and child mental health services helping an affected child to overcome the condition.

Approved

However, despite major improvements being made in the service on paper in recent years, with a €5m research fund approved by the Department of Health through the Health Research Board into the causes of the condition, the HSE has now formally acknowledged that it is failing to fully meet the needs of hundreds of children diagnosed with the condition every year.

And in a worrying formal response to a series of parliamentary questions from Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan in recent weeks, the HSE has now confirmed that serious "challenges" are being experienced by medics because of the sheer numbers of children being diagnosed with the condition.

In formal correspondence sent to Deputy Durkan, a HSE official noted: "Challenges experienced by the HSE and funded non-statutory service providers in meeting the needs of children include huge increases in numbers of children presenting with autism and the need to balance the requirement to provide assessments and diagnosis with ongoing service intervention to children."

The report went on; "In areas where services are provided by child and adolescent mental health services, there is a need to move to a model in line with A Vision For Change which is the strategy for mental health services."

It highlighted the reality that the high number of children being diagnosed with the condition is now forcing a rationing of the service on offer to the children and their families affected.

Waiting

The worrying situation in the treatment of authtisum emerged at the same time as it was confirmed that almost 3,600 children are now waiting to see a psychiatrist.

Of these, more than a thousand will be waiting in excess of a year.

There are now 465 more children and teens are on waiting lists to see a psychiatrist than there were only two years ago.