Staff shortage leaves children without treatment

Friday 17 January 2020

Some children in Guernsey who have been referred to the local Occupational Therapy service have been unable to get the help they need, as HSC faces a lack of staff.

This was disclosed in a letter, recently sent out to the guardians of children who are currently using or have been referred to the service.

Health and Social Care apologised for the delays caused, which it puts down to an increased demand for occupational therapy along with challenges recruiting and retaining staff.

"I appreciate this may be frustrating and may create a number of difficulties for your child," Service Manager, Lou Newby told affected parents in the letter. "I am very sorry for this disruption to the service and would like to reassure you that I am doing all that is possible to seek to progress this matter and re-establish this service as soon as possible."

Pictured: HSC President Deputy Heidi Soulsby.

While it is unable to offer a comprehensive service, the Occupational Therapy team has decided to target young people with the most "complex needs" and those at risk of immediate harm or injury to themselves.

"Several measures have been implemented in order to support service users and help manage the demand on the service, such as monthly consultation and advice clinics for parents and teachers, provision of online resources, assessment clinics and training evenings for professionals and support staff," a spokesperson for HSC said.

"For those children and young people who require specialist intervention to resolve their underlying difficulties, weekly individual programmes of intervention are provided. Once this is completed, the service user is discharged and may be re-referred if further support is needed in the future."

A national shortage of Highly Specialist Occupational Therapists is partly to blame for the island's problem, according to HSC, which is struggling to recruit permanent staff.

The committee has agreed to provide ongoing funding for locum cover in the short term, but says this is likely to leave further gaps in the service.

Some parents have taken to social media to voice their concerns about the service, and are even planning on forming a pressure group over the delays.

Pictured top: Some children are missing out on the service due to a lack of staff (file image).