Ms Deirdre Kenny:

I will respond to that question, if I may. It is not that it is difficult to hire staff. Posts can be filled when they become vacant but part of the problem is the length of time that takes. Another issue is staff taking different types of leave and that leave not being covered. In areas where there are very established staff who are not going anywhere, one tends to have more maternity leave, parental leave and sick leave. As the Deputy said, in order to retain experienced staff one must be nice to them so requests for leave are granted. The issue then is that the HSE does not cover that leave which results in gaps in service.

In terms of what works well, a review of primary care speech and language therapy services was conducted to see if we could make improvements to the way we work. We know that the more clinicians one recruits, the more children will come to the door. The easier it is to access services, the more people will start recognising that they are having difficulties. There is a proposed model in this report to change the way we work to meet the needs of more children. A recent schools project initiative created some extra posts for speech and language therapists and occupational therapists to determine if working in schools is more effective. In some of the very disadvantaged areas of Dublin, for example, greater numbers of children are presenting with communication difficulties compared with their peers in other areas because they have not had the same opportunities. The project is looking at whether therapists working in schools and training up teachers and parents will improve outcomes and is also looking at how that will fit with primary care services. We recognise that we could do more at a universal and targeted level and this project is looking at whether changing the way we work will be beneficial. As speech and language therapists, we acknowledge that we can improve the way we work but the report is sitting in the HSE.