Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I apologise for missing some of the meeting. I was in the Seanad dealing with the availability of therapeutic services for children with autism in a school. The Minister for Health had come to the House to deal with the queries I had on the matter. One of the responses he gave me was that a review is being carried out that is supposed to be delivered in the second quarter of 2019. Is the IASLT involved in looking at each area? They witnesses may have dealt with this question, and if so, that is fine. I will go back over the transcript. I imagine that in each HSE area the ratio of speech and language therapists per head of population is the same. Has the southern region been looked at in this regard? Are the numbers far lower in real terms compared with other areas? The Minister has announced that more than 100 speech and language therapists are to be employed. We need to prioritise where they should go. Has the IASLT been involved in any discussions on this issue?

A major concern I have with the HSE is that it has taken on an additional 12,000 people since December 2014, which is greater than the entire workforce of the Irish Army. I wonder about value for money. For argument's sake, we may have an area with a higher ratio of speech and language therapists than other areas but a longer waiting list. Has any examination of this been done with regard to whether there is a particular way the service is being organised that leads to the delays being caused? I came across an issue in dermatology where one particular area had many more specialists than other areas but the number of cases they were dealing with was less than 50% of what was being dealt with in another area that had fewer specialists.

That is one issue that needs to be examined. If we employ additional speech and language therapists, what level of backup facility and ancillary staff supports would need to be put in place? It is like appointing a medical consultant to a hospital but not providing additional beds, nurses or accommodation to carry out a clinic to ensure he or she can do his or her job. Has this been examined when dealing with the HSE or the Department? One can have a therapist appointed but there might not be facilities to carry out the work and or the support staff to arrange simple things like appointments. Has that been examined?