The number of children who are overdue an Assessment of Need has increased by nearly 1,600 in the space of three months, Newstalk can reveal.

Internal HSE documents show 12,722 children with additional needs are now awaiting more than six months for the vital assessment as of the end of September.

That’s up from 11,131 children who were overdue an assessment at the end of June, and from 8,900 at the end of 2023.

81% of children overdue have been waiting nine months or more for an assessment of need.

EXCLUSIVE: 12,722 children with additional needs are overdue an assessment of need as of the end of September - a rise of ~1,600 in just 3 months.

Disability Act contains statutory framework whereby an AON must be completed within six months of being requested or referred. #GE24

— Andrew Lowth (@AndrewLowth1) November 21, 2024

An Assessment of Need is carried out in order to examine what services a child needs, such as occupational therapy or speech and language therapy.

Under the Disability Act, there is a statutory requirement for such assessments to be carried out within six months.

According to the internal documents, 1,047 Assessments of Need were completed in the third quarter of this year – of those just 10% were within the statutory timeframe.

Of those completed assessments, around two-thirds were found to require occupational therapy, while over half needed speech and language therapy.

The government has previously contributed €7m to outsource to private treatment centres this year, with an additional €10m pledged as part of the Budget.

Despite this, the increase of nearly 1,600 children overdue between June and September is the largest in 2024 so far.

Image: Stressed child sits alone in a hall, 21/04/2022 Alamy