Audiology Support Group of Mayo parents seeks meeting with HSE official
A new support group created by the families of the children who had a missed audiology diagnosis have come together to support and share their experience.
The meeting was attended by a large number of people that included other family members, teachers of the children and elected representatives.
Parents Audiology Support Group Roscommon/Mayo was set up in recent weeks to campaign for the long-term future support required for may of the children who in recent times got the news that they have been affected by the scandal.
Spokesperson for the group, Martin Corcoran (Castlebar), said while families in this support group are only now provided with HSE additional service, much work remains to be done in terms of cross departmental communication.
“It is not good enough that the HSE apologised and then struggle to qualify that apology,” he said.
“Many of the children have lost valuable developmental years. Children now need additional support from various departments such as Department of Education and the Department of Social Protection.
"Sadly the HSE have no real care plan that would reflect cross departmental communication. These children cannot wait any longer, they and their families have suffered enough.
"The HSE have already acknowledged that hurt has been caused, surely they should work with us now to address the fallout of that hurt caused.” Mr Corcoran added.
The group has written to Tony Canavan, Chief Officer of Community Healthcare, HSE, to arrange a meeting with him to discuss the barriers that still remain for them in terms of the provision of much need services and to work out a timeline in terms of delivery of these services
The Health Service Executive carried out the review of services provided in Mayo and Roscommon from 2011 to 2015 as a result of concerns around "some aspects of the quality of the service provided," leaving some children with lifelong impairments.
Almost 50 families in counties Mayo and Roscommon have received an apology for serious failings in audiology services provided to their children.
Of the 49, 13 had been discharged from the service but were re-referred back into the system and were found to have suffered additional hearing loss.
A further 20 children were still active in the system but also found to have suffered additional hearing loss.
It was established that 16 other children with hearing aids received care that deviated significantly from national standards.
Among the key failures identified in report are:
Failure to determine the model of paediatric audiology service provided.
Hearing aid management (fitting/verification/validation) was not performed as per relevant guidelines at fitting or review appointments.
There was inadequate clinical governance in place to audit and monitor service provision.
Poor record keeping.
The group is also calling for the wider investigation by the HSE into the audiology services in the west as such practice date back to the 2000s.
The group can be contacted via email on mayoross49@gmail.com