Ed Madden, BL, looks at a recent High Court case in which the HSE accepted that current delays in relation to the processing of complaints relating to assessment of need under the Disability Act are unlawful I n April 2024, the High Court delivered its judgment in judicial review proceedings in which both parties to the case, a child suing the HSE through his mother, sought a consent order from the Court to a settlement agreed between them intended to bring the litigation to a conclusion. When the application came on for hearing, the Court was told that the case concerned a failure by the HSE to investigate a complaint under the statutory complaints procedure established under the Disability Act 2005 as amended (‘the Act’). On February 14, 2023, the mother made an application for an ‘assessment of need’ under the Act in respect of her child.
There is an obligation to commence such an assessment within three months of the date of receipt of the application, save in exceptional circumstances. The assessment is required to be completed within three months from the date the assessment commenced. In the present case that meant the assessment was required to be completed no later than August 14, 2023.
When the assessment was not completed by that date, a complaint was made to the HSE the following day. Following correspondence between the solicitors for both sides, the HSE informed the mother on December 7, 2023, that the complaint would not be processed for a further seven.
