Richard O'Donoghue Urges HSE Audit to Reuse Special Needs Equipment
Richard O'Donoghue urged the minister to introduce a reimbursement scheme and to audit HSE-held equipment to speed up assessments and support children with special needs. He argued families face assessment delays and that reusable buggies, wheelchairs and other aids in warehouses could be reconditioned for interim use.
Assessment delays and reimbursement suggestion
Richard O'Donoghue highlighted long waits for assessments for children with special needs and proposed a reimbursement scheme so families could obtain assessments or interim services elsewhere while waiting for public appointments.
Equipment stock and reuse potential
He pointed to equipment that is returned or stored by the HSE - including buggies and wheelchairs - and said much of it could be repurposed, modified or checked over and given to other families in need.
Call for an HSE audit
He called for an audit of all equipment the HSE issues and the items that are not returned, to identify reusable stock and reduce delays for children awaiting appropriate aids.
Practical example and appeal to common sense
He described a case of a 10 year old non-verbal child using an undersized buggy and argued that repurposed equipment from warehouses could provide interim relief. He urged the minister to apply "a small bit of common sense" to speed up care and make better use of existing resources.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Minister, I know special needs is a thing that is close to your own heart. We see assessments and the delay on assessments for children. If we can't get assessments on time, if people can get an assessment, why can't we put in a reimbursement scheme? We have done it for hips and knees, why can't we do a reimbursement scheme for somebody that is able to get an assessment somewhere else in the interim until we get the assessments done? That can actually speed up the process and then we can get the children looked after and get them assessed faster. The other thing when it comes to equipment for children with special needs. We need to audit that sector. For the one reason is there is equipment being put into warehouses and when somebody finishes with it is going, it could be repurposed and reused it and recycled and brought back out again for somebody else. I am talking buggies, wheelchairs, I am talking different things. But I know that there are places around this country that there are warehouses full of stuff that has come back after being used and hasn't been repurposed. And it can be modified, they can be checked over, the same as buying a second hand character, but in the interim if somebody is waiting for something they can keep them going in the interim. It is using what we have to hand. So a small bit of common sense is what I am looking for here. I spoke yesterday about a woman that had a buggy for her 10 year old child who is non-verbal and doesn't walk and she has a buggy up to eight years of age, she is now 10. She has to go to the A&E and put him into a buggy that is two years out of size for him. And I guarantee you if I went to the warehouses around the country that where this stuff has been stored by the HSE there are loads of them there for that size that we could be repurposing them. So I would like to have an audit on all the stuff that the HSE give out and also on the stuff that they will never get back when people are finished with it, that they will never hand it back. That we can repurpose, recondition and give it back out to people in the interim while we are waiting for stuff for them. Thank you Minister.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
