HSE SERVICE STATEMENT COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE:  TIMEFRAMES FOR THE PROVISION OF SERVICES: LEGAL RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.

The recent High Court decision confirmed that a service statement must set out the timeframes for the provision of services in a service statement. In the recent case of RY and ZR (A Minor Suing By His Mother and Next Friend RY) and Disability Appeals Officer and Health Service Executive [2024] IESC the High Court clarified when a service statement must include the timeframe within which services will be provided to a child. The mother of the child initiated the HSE service statement complaints procedure. Although the HSE service statement complaints officer did not uphold the mother’s complaint, the High Court took a different view and overturned the disability officer’s decision. The Court concluded that a liaison officer must provide a timeframe for the provision of any services identified in an assessment of need and that this requirement cannot be “sidestepped by interposing an additional process” such as an onward referral for the determination of interventions when those interventions had already been identified in an Assessment of Need Report. For expert legal advice call (01)833 8147. or alternatively you can email us at [email protected].

The above High Court decision centred around a complaint made by a child’s parent in relation to a Service Statement which did not provide a timeframe within which services would be provided to a child. The child was assessed as presenting with autism spectrum disorder and global developmental delay in her assessment of need report. The complaint made to the HSE complaints officer was rejected and was unsuccessfully appealed to the Appeals Officer.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Two months after the assessment of needs was completed, a service statement issued which outlined under the “Actual interventions” section of the service statement that services would be provided following the development of the child’s Individual Family Service Plan (“IFSP”). It was outlined that following the development of an IFSP that only then would the HSE “determine what further interventions” would be provided and the “expected timeframe for same”. The child’s mother was dismayed to receive a Service Statement which did not detail when she could expect actual interventions in relation to her child and immediately submitted a complaint under the HSE service statement complaints procedure . None of the timeframes for actual interventions outlined in the Assessment of Need were addressed in the Service Statement. The Service Statement only went so far as to set out an onward referral and place a requirement that an additional process would have to be developed prior to putting in place actual interventions and much needed services.

The child’s mother complained to the Health Service Executive seeking a recommendation from the complaints officer that a specific timeframe for actual interventions be clearly set out in her child’s service statement in accordance with her legal right. The child’s mother outlined  to the HSE service statement complaints officer that the Service Statement only set out that an Individual Family Service Plan would be prepared which would identify services and actual interventions to be determined in the future. The complaints were rejected both at first instance and on appeal by the HSE’s Disability Appeals Officer.

The child’s mother brought the matter before the High Court which determined that a Liaison Officer when preparing a Service Statement must have regard to the services already identified in the Assessment of Need and to prepare a Service Statement which states when services will actually be provided to a child “in respect of needs identified in the assessment report”. The Court held that the required services had already been identified in the child’s Assessment of Need and therefore including an additional step in the service statement which required that the child await the development of an Individual Family Service Plan prior to receiving any actual interventions did not comply with the Statutory requirements under the Disability Act 2005. The Court stated:

“insofar as the development of an Individual Family Service Plan is a health service……it is not a timeframe for the provision of any of the services that were recommended in the assessment of need. Specifying a timeframe for the provision of any of the services……identified in the assessment of needs cannot be sidestepped by interposing an additional process…by doing that, the Service Statement has avoided responsibility for specifying a timeframe for the provision of any services recommended”.

TIMEFRAMES FOR SERVICES, LEGAL RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.

The decision in RY and ZR (A Minor Suing By His Mother and Next Friend RY) and Disability Appeals Officer and Health Service Executive [2024] IESC establishes that in certain circumstances that a liaison officer must specify the timeframe for the provision of services which have been identified in an Assessment of Need and cannot impose an additional process prior to setting out the timeframe for any such services. If anyone is unhappy with their service statement it is open to them to initiated the HSE service statement complaints procedure in order to resolve any issues identified in the service statement.

Should you wish to read the above decision in RY and ZR (A Minor Suing By His Mother and Next Friend RY) and Disability Appeals Officer and Health Service Executive [2024] IESC, you may do so by visiting www.courts.ie. Should you wish to discuss your service statement and the provision of services which are outlined therein or alternatively should you require assistance with submitting a complaint under the HSE service statement complaints procedure, For expert legal advice call (01)833 8147 or alternatively you can email us at [email protected] Telephone and Video call consultations are available by appointment