Ms Lorraine Dempsey:

Currently some service providers and HSE staff are providing a very limited remote physiotherapy service, whereby they instruct parents in what to do while they can see the child. It is not a hands-on therapy. For the most part, physiotherapy and all other therapies are about developing the capacity of parents to deliver them on an ongoing basis rather than what a child gets at a particular session and being able to maximise the input of the therapy and advice. Service provision has been extremely limited.

There has been a significant issue with HSE staff and HSE-funded staff being redeployed to Covid swabbing centres or to Citywest. We need all of the professional therapy staff who were redeployed for Covid-related activities to return to their normal posts. There are also ongoing issues with the provision of therapy, which will be compounded by issues in the HSE where there are extensive waiting lists for all types of therapy provision. The fear is that without serious investment in additional therapy staff who have been identified as being needed, more and more children will miss out and waiting lists will become more extensive.