Lack of support failing people in Mayo with neurological conditions, says advocacy group

Ahead of Brain Awareness Week, calls have been put forward as Mayo still has no access to a neurological rehabilitation team.

In Ireland it is estimated that 860,000 people have a neurological condition and there are about 600 different neurological conditions, including many rare conditions.

Six years on from the government commitment to deliver nine fully funded community neurological rehabilitation teams across the country, the rollout has been beset by delays, with most areas of the country - including Mayo - still without any access to a team.

That’s according to the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI), the national umbrella body for 40 neurological organisations, who recently met with TDs and Senators at Leinster House, to call for their renewed commitment in delivering on the targets outlined in the 2019 Neurorehabilitation Strategy.

Magdalen Rogers, CEO of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland said: “Neurorehabilitation is a vital service to enable people in Mayo with neurological conditions to live their day to day lives. We’re calling on the Government to announce a commitment to funding four community neurorehabilitation teams in this year’s Budget. We want to see this commitment during their first 100 days in office, to send a clear signal they intend to deliver on the pledges within the Programme for Government to complete the national rollout of community neurorehabilitation teams and to developing more specialist inpatient rehabilitation beds and implement community based multidisciplinary rehabilitation services in each HSE Regional Health Authority Area”.

NAI is calling for funding in the upcoming Budget for full community neurorehabilitation teams for the North West, North Dublin, South East and Midlands, promised since 2019.

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Of the Nine Community Neurorehabilitation Teams the government committed to establishing in 2019, three have not received any funding to date, (Midlands, North Dublin and South East) while the North West team has only three posts funded compared to the 12 that should be in place. Four teams are due to be established in 2025, for Cork/Kerry, Galway, Wicklow/South Dublin and West Dublin/Kildare. The ninth team (Mid West) is due to get an uplift from 7 posts to the required 12.

For more information visit: www.nai.ie