Ms Deirdre Comiskey:

There are a couple of elements to the assessment of need challenge we are seeing, and the Department recognises that. One thing is the drivers of assessment of need. There is a big thing between the statutory assessment of need piece and, as one of the members was saying, the reason people are looking for it. Sometimes that is for a school reason. They may not need the whole 36 hours assessment. They may need a simple diagnostic piece from an educational perspective. That is one thing we are discussing with the Department of Education.

In my Department, we have held a number of workshops with stakeholders, specifically in relation to assessment of need and the challenges we are seeing. We are also looking to see about moving towards a single point of assessment and talking to the HSE. There is something about a child coming in and parents taking the "no wrong door approach", when maybe what they need is primary care, CAMHS or disabilities. However, they should be pointed in the right direction. At the moment, there is a lack of communication at times and parents are not clear on the pathway they can follow. All these things are being addressed through PDS roadmap and the workgroup. We have one on the communications piece which will look to put out better communications for parents in relation to that, in that they do not have to go for statutory assessment of need and that they can self refer to CDNTs and then get started on the intervention therapies quicker. The Department is also going to seek to look at research internationally as to how assessment of need is done in other jurisdictions and whether there are lessons to be learned from that.

We are very aware of the challenges and we are actively seeking to look at the drivers and see where we can move that needle, so that children are getting therapy intervention and the focus of resources is not solely on the assessment of need piece. We all understand that what the children really need is to get the therapies.