Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to have the opportunity to address on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, the issue raised by Deputy Naughten. As the House will be aware, the Health Act 2004 provided for the establishment of the Health Service Executive on 1 January 2005. Under the Act, it is the responsibility of the executive to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services, including audiology services. I am happy to set out the development of policy in this area and to convey the information provided by the chief officer of the executive's western area on the specific question raised by the Deputy Naughten.

The chief officer of the western region of the HSE has informed the Department of Health and Children that there are approximately 750 adults awaiting appointments as new referrals and recalls in the western region. The number of children waiting for appointments is 210. I concur with Deputy Naughten's view that 950 is an unacceptable number of people to be waiting. While waiting times for tests in Mayo are relatively short at up to four months, there are difficulties in Roscommon and Galway. Excessive waiting times of up to four years obtain in the two counties due to difficulties in recruiting the necessary specialist staff. Deputy Naughten will support my view that early intervention is the best policy by far, especially in relation to children. If one does not intervene early, one finds one has to provide other support services at a later stage. I would like to see the earliest possible intervention and appropriate services being made available as quickly as possible.

The chief officer has advised the Department that the main difficulty giving rise to delays relates to the recruitment of audiological scientists. While audiological scientist and senior audiologist posts have been advertised on three separate occasions, the HSE has been unsuccessful in recruiting the required specialists due to their scarcity in the workforce. The posts are being re-advertised in Ireland and an advertising campaign is also being carried out in the UK. The HSE's western area has informed the Department that in some areas it has engaged a part-time audiological scientist to deal with the most urgent cases. In other areas, the HSE has received support from the audiology department of University College Hospital Galway. In addition, the services of an audiologist from the royal group of hospitals and dental hospitals in Belfast have been employed. He is contracted to provide services to Mayo as he can only undertake services in one county. This accounts for the improved position of Mayo compared to the other two counties.

Since 1 January 2005, 35 adult clinics have been held in the audiology department of Galway community services. A total of 714 clients have been called for hearing assessment and the fitting of hearing aids during these clinics. In addition, 18 children's clinics have been held, during which 207 children, including those aged from four years down, have been called and assessed. In Mayo, approximately 100 adults and 30 children are seen and assessed each month. The average waiting time in Mayo for audiological treatment is from six to eight weeks for children and from two and four months for adults.

In January 2004, following an evaluation of the posts of scientist and senior scientist on foot of the Labour Court recommendation, the posts of audiology and senior audiology scientist were upgraded. The upgrade linked the posts to those of physicist and senior physicist and provided for significant increases in salaries. In addition, the appointment of a chief audiologist was sanctioned for a number of HSE areas. The regrading of posts is expected to enhance their attractiveness to future recruits.

The Department of Health and Children is committed to the development of community audiology services, for the development of which it has provided since 2000 additional ongoing funding in excess of €2.6 million. The funding has been allocated to provide for the development of services and capital funding for the improvement of facilities in Health Service Executive areas. In addition, the Department provided once-off funding of €407,000 in 2004 and €329,000 in 2003 for the purchase of hearing aids.

I assure Deputy Naughten that the Department of Health and Children has taken steps to provide an attractive grade structure for audiologists and funding for improved community services. Unfortunately, recruitment of audiological scientists to work in the western area of the HSE has proven difficult. The Department will continue to impress on the HSE the need to address this matter as a priority in service delivery and is optimistic that an improvement in services will be witnessed.

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