“I feel let down, I feel neglected in the sense of support and funding… despite my cries for help.”
A solo mother has lambasted the public health system for declining her daughter swifter access to an assessment that would open doors to better treat her worsening ADHD, if the assessment is successful.
Samantha Downie’s 10-year-old daughter Olivia was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) inattentive, late last year, which causes her to have concentration difficulties.
She says, since moving to Richmond from Hamilton in December with her five children for a “fresh start”, Olivia’s ADHD has aggravated.
“Her emotional response to things is very extreme, and she would often have maybe one or two meltdowns a day,” she says. “Any kind of interaction with her just consisted of screaming, melting down, very hysterical… sometimes she can be a little bit violent, like hurting her siblings.
“That was only on a minor scale when we were in Hamilton, and since we’ve been here, especially during the school holidays and when she wasn’t at school, from the moment she wakes up to the moment she went to sleep, it was just chaotic.”
Samantha, who is currently on a benefit, says with Olivia’s condition and the struggles it entails, it impacts her ability to parent her children equally.
She says that Olivia has expressed she doesn’t want to be the way she is.
“As a mother that’s so hard to hear and you want to do everything you can to help your child… it’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
Samantha says, she has desperately sought an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessment for her daughter through the Paediatric department at Health New Zealand Nelson Marlborough for the past three months following referrals from her GP and letters from social workers.
She says if an assessment confirms an ASD diagnosis, Olivia will have access to more specialised support.
“I’ve rung [Paediatrics], and I’ve been literally crying on the phone to them that since we had moved down here... [Olivia’s] behaviour has deteriorated and things were quite bad, and I was told there was ‘nothing we can do’,” she says.
“Unless Olivia becomes a harm to herself or is at a higher crisis point, our triage won’t change, and I pretty much have to keep hassling [Paediatrics] until hopefully they click and say, ‘we’ll see her sooner’.”
Samantha says an ASD assessment was booked while the family were still living in Hamilton, following recommendations by a child psychologist.
The family had moved to Nelson before the assessment could take place because Samantha found a house sooner than expected.
“The impression that I was under was that [the assessment] would be transferred.
“But we got put back on the waiting list… because we were now under a different DHB, and it was [going to be] a year to a year and a half wait to be seen by the Paediatrics team.”
Samantha says she received information from Paediatrics on Wednesday last week that Olivia could not be assessed until she was seen by the Child Development Service (CDS), which she says would still be a 12 to 15 month wait. Samantha says following her unsuccessful attempts to get an ASD assessment her last gasp is via a private service, which would cost close to $3000.
Nelson Marlborough group director operations hospital specialist services, Lexie O’Shea, says paediatric resources and wait times are a challenge across New Zealand and it acknowledges the pressures patients, whānau and staff face.
“Health workforce shortages are a global issue, and the Nelson Hospital paediatric department does feel the impact of a shortage in allied clinical staff who are integral to the assessment processes.
“Every case is reviewed, and our staff work to ensure that those with urgent requirements receive services first.”
Lexie says current service specifications for the Child Development Service do not include ADHD where this is the only diagnosis.
Samantha has launched a Givealittle page to raise funds for a private ASD assessment.
