Ms Deirdre Kenny:

Approximately 100. The health business services, which carry out recruitment, have working groups pertaining to the various professions. We try to solve problems at that level and highlight the difficulties. That is the national group in which we look at recruitment. I understand the HSE is reviewing those services at the moment.

I spoke about primary care and the disability team level. In regard to the impact of symptoms, I refer again to the example of the one year old who is not talking, has no words and is not interacting. The speech and language therapist care meets him or her in primary care. Depending on how services are set up, that child may get some intervention at primary care level while he or she is on another waiting list. However, if one has cancer, one wants to be seen in a specialist cancer centre. It is not desirable to have a GP manage those symptoms. We can manage those symptoms to a certain level and give the child's family some ideas and strategies. However the long-term management of the needs of that child and family needs to be done in a specialist centre where a team works together, as opposed to one clinician offering the family some supports. While they might get some support and manage some of those symptoms, to give that child the service he or she needs, the family needs the benefit of a team.