Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 17 October 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

New Standard Operating Procedure for Assessment of Need under the Disability Act 2005: Discussion (Resumed)

9:00 am

Photo of Margaret Murphy O'MahonyMargaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and both Ms Kirkpatrick and Ms Kenny for coming in here this morning. It was my idea originally to highlight what are obvious difficulties with the new proposed standard operating procedure. The original meeting was my idea. Apologies if our guest speakers were left out on that occasion and I hope that we can all move on together. It was not intentional. As highlighted by Ms Kirkpatrick and Ms Kenny this is not just about speech. People think that speech therapists just deal with speech but as the disabilities spokesperson for Fianna Fáil, I am aware that the witnesses' profession does much work with swallowing, eating and all functions of the throat. Sometimes the general public are not aware of that which is good to highlight.

The assessment of need is a major problem in any event and these new proposals are making a bad situation worse, in my mind. It is like a yellow pack assessment of need, for want of a better word. In the opinion of our guest speakers, do they see conflicting requirements from clinicians in general and do they believe that the preliminary team assessment is contrary to the spirit of the Act, especially concerning the 90 minutes that is so short, and in my opinion, very insulting to have such a limited time for assessment? I am aware that Ms Kirkpatrick and Ms Kenny spoke about meetings on short notice, etc. Was the whole thing drafted without any concrete consultation with their association?

The standard operating procedure proposes that only children who have "complex and significant needs" access an assessment of need. In my opinion, complexity is very subjective. This will lead to problems and I would like to have the association's views on this point. Does the association believe this will lead to misdiagnosis and wrong diagnosis?

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