The despairing mother of a rider badly injured in a crash during the Southern 100 says her son’s rehabilitation has all but ground to a halt due to staff shortages.

Anthony O’Carroll, 27, from Ballyduff in County Kerry, was seriously injured when he crashed on the opening night of the racing on July 8, 2024 at Ballakeighan, near the start of the 4.25-mile circuit during the newcomers’ sighting laps.

The session was immediately red flagged as a result.

After the crash Anthony, who now lives in Australia, was taken to Noble’s Hospital and then immediately airlifted to Walton Centre for Neuroscience located in Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool.

He remained in ICU at the hospital for some time where he remained unconscious but recovered enough to return to Ireland.

After making very good progress his mum Mary O’Carroll now says the rehabilitation has come to a ‘near standstill’.

She said: ‘Unfortunately, due to lack of therapists in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in the past three weeks - and getting worse - Anthony's Rehabilitation is seriously lacking.

‘The NRH is now nothing much more than a long-term care facility for Anthony rather than a rehabilitation hospital. The therapists they have keep being swapped and changed and are spread very thin.

‘Anthony has very little therapy sessions on his rota and even some of them get cancelled. I feel so frustrated and disappointed towards the NRH and the HSE and I'm getting the same feedback from the overworked and burned-out staff here.

A gofundme page was set up shortly afterwards by a family friend on behalf of Anthony’s mother which has raised more than £60,000 to help with his rehabilitation.

Anthony has undergone a number of surgeries after he suffered head trauma and a number of broken bones.

Now Mary has written an open letter pleading for urgent action to help Anthony.

It says: ‘I am writing this as a desperate plea for help and attention to my son’s situation at the NRH. Anthony’s rehabilitation has come to a near standstill due to a severe shortage of therapists.

‘What was supposed to be a place of progress and healing has, sadly, become little more than a long-term care facility for my son.

‘The heart of rehabilitation – consistent and focused therapy – is not happening. Therapists are being constantly rotated; their numbers stretched to breaking point.

‘As a result, Anthony only has a few therapy sessions scheduled and even those are often cancelled without warning.’

In the letter, Mary expresses her frustration and says something needs to be done to improve the ‘failing’ system.

She said: ‘For someone like Anthony, who desperately needs structured, continuous support to recover, this situation is heartbreaking.

‘I feel desperately frustrated, disappointed and increasingly hopeless. The dedicated staff who are still here are doing their best, but they are clearly overwhelmed, overworked and burnt out.

‘I hear the same thing from them as I experience myself – the system is failing our loved ones.

‘I am asking – as a mother – for urgent action. My son deserves a chance at recovery.’