Carol Nolan: Elderly Man Denied Occupational Therapy After 8 Referrals
Carol Nolan raises urgent concerns about older people being denied access to occupational therapy, highlighting a 90-year-old man who has had at least eight medical referrals and still has no appointment. Nolan says she has contacted the HSE, the local primary care centre and the Minister and is seeking an immediate assessment.
Carol Nolan sets out the concrete example of a 90-year-old constituent who worked all his life and paid his taxes but cannot secure an occupational therapy appointment despite multiple referrals. She describes the distress and frustration this is causing the man and his family.
Nolan explains that she has followed up personally, emailing the HSE, the local primary care centre and the Minister to press for an assessment. She frames the contact as the first step in demanding the basic service the patient needs.
Nolan warns this is not an isolated incident and positions lack of access to occupational therapy as a broader issue for older people. A colleague responds in the record, saying they will raise the matter with Minister Carroll McNeill and ask the HSE to engage and report back.
Immediate case
Carol Nolan sets out the concrete example of a 90-year-old constituent who worked all his life and paid his taxes but cannot secure an occupational therapy appointment despite multiple referrals. She describes the distress and frustration this is causing the man and his family.
Actions taken
Nolan explains that she has followed up personally, emailing the HSE, the local primary care centre and the Minister to press for an assessment. She frames the contact as the first step in demanding the basic service the patient needs.
Broader concern and response
Nolan warns this is not an isolated incident and positions lack of access to occupational therapy as a broader issue for older people. A colleague responds in the record, saying they will raise the matter with Minister Carroll McNeill and ask the HSE to engage and report back.
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Transcript
I wish to raise the serious and ongoing concerns regarding the lack of access to occupational therapy for elderly people. I'm dealing with a situation at the moment where an elderly man of 90 who worked all his life, paid his taxes, cannot get access to an occupational therapy appointment despite at least eight separate medical referrals. Now I have followed up myself, I have sent an email to the HSE and the local primary care centre and also to the Minister because it's just simply wrong and this isn't the only elderly person that I'm dealing with that cannot get access to occupational therapy which is a very basic service. This man urgently needs an assessment and it's causing him great distress and frustration that he can't get this basic assessment despite as I say working all his life. Go raibh maith agat. Go raibh maith agat Deputy Nolan, thanks for raising the issue in relation to access to occupational therapy for older people and I'll speak with the Minister in relation to that broader issue but also specifically the issue that you've raised regarding that elderly gentleman who's seeking that and has a number of medical referrals so if you want to send me the information I'll ask Minister Ciarán McNeill to engage with the HSE and come back to you.