David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to get to the issue of GPs if I can but before I do, there are a number of areas where we have real pressure points and difficulties. We have rehearsed some of those over the past year at various meetings of this committee and other committees of the Oireachtas. Children's disability network teams are probably staffed at about 70% at this point. We have a problem with recruiting staff into these teams. In mental health we have a dire shortage of consultant psychiatrists, psychologists and staff in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. We have a real challenge right across mental health services in recruiting staff. Using the hours we have funded for home help is a major challenge because we cannot recruit the staff to provide them. We have a lot of challenges in those areas and I do not see a plan that tells me we will solve these issues.

I will give one example that makes the mind boggle. I asked a parliamentary question about what interventions the disability section of the HSE will make to try to fill the positions in the children's disability network teams and how it will recruit more staff. The HSE stated it was looking at sponsorship programmes, apprenticeships and assistant therapy grades to help.

I then put a question to HR in the HSE. They come back to say they are not looking at sponsorships, apprenticeships and assistant therapy grades. So which is it? When one arm of the HSE is saying it is going to do something and another is saying it is not, that does not fill me with confidence. Could Mr. Reid address that point first because we have had several exchanges on this at the children's committee and other committees? We have to deal with parents of children with disabilities and those children themselves who are waiting for access to therapies. We all know how difficult and challenging it is, yet the staff cannot be recruited. I do not see the urgency and I do not see the plan. Perhaps he might enlighten us as to whether there have been any changes in the past couple of months. These are the areas that we need to drill down into and examine the shortfalls of staff are and the positions cannot be filled and the impact it is having on the end-user and the patient.