Dr. Louise Higgins:

Colleagues have raised the Disability Act and it does need to be reviewed. The language used is not in recognition of the social model of disability or neurodiversity. That needs to be taken into consideration. I think sometimes AON has created a situation where assessment becomes this bad thing and is pitted against intervention. We argue that assessment is an important part of understanding an individual's needs and identifying the appropriate supports. PTAs are suspended, thankfully, but we are trying to get back to where we were.

Clinicians are completing AONs as they would have previously. I understand there are interim clinical guidelines around AONs. As Mr. Allen explained, they are interim so we and other professional bodies have not been consulted around those. Assessments need to happen and we would want to be consulted so we do not have another situation of things having to be redone, wasting resources and children’s and families’ time. That is probably the most important thing we have to say around assessments.

I agree on children and adolescents. It is a spectrum. Some children and adolescents could be well supported at primary care. Some will need the support of a CDNT and some of CAMHS, and some may need a combination of those. As I outlined in the opening statement, there is an agreement in principle and a policy around shared care in the HSE but it often is not implemented or there is huge variation in its implementation. That needs to be in place because there are children and adolescents who will need both services. Does that answer the Deputy’s questions?