Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I thank Deputy Connaughton for raising this matter. Under the Health Act 2004 the HSE is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services, including all disability services. Expenditure on health services for people with a disability in the current year will be approximately €1.5 billion, with an overall staffing level of 15,800 whole-time equivalents. The majority of that funding is used by the non-statutory agencies providing services, including Ability West. The integral role of these agencies is of particular relevance to the provision of health and personal social services to people with a disability. These agencies provide a very significant and broad range of services in partnership with and on behalf of the HSE.

I am aware that Ability West, for example, provides a wide range of community-based day, residential and support services to an average of 500 children and adults with an intellectual disability within Galway city and county, and that it is also patron to four special schools in the county, providing health related supports as required. Ability West is funded by the HSE under section 39 of the Health Act 2004. Services are provided through a service level agreement which is reviewed annually. The HSE provided funding of €22.5 million to Ability West this year.

As noted above, expenditure on health services for people with a disability in the current year will be around €1.5 billion. Special consideration was given to disability and mental health in the 2011 budget through a maximum reduction of just 1.8% in the allocation for the two sectors. The relatively lower reduction of 1.8%, compared with other areas of the health budget, recognises that these services are provided to vulnerable groups and should help to ensure that existing services are maintained and that priority is given to the delivery of front-line services. The HSE has informed me that it is working closely with service providers in 2011, including Ability West, to ensure the maximum delivery of services in an efficient and effective manner, with priority being given to those in greatest need. The HSE was provided with an additional €10 million for disability services this year to provide for the anticipated extra demand in emergency residential, respite and personal assistant-home support hours for people with disabilities, and day places for school leavers in September of this year. Taking the reduction in the overall HSE disability budget into account, the HSE was asked to manage the additional resources and engage with service providers to ensure that existing support needs, and demands for additional places and supports, are managed effectively within the overall allocation.

The level of funding available for the overall health budget is being considered as part of the comprehensive review of expenditure and Estimates process for 2012 which is currently under way. Deliberations by the Government on the expenditure allocations for next year are likely to continue right up to budget time and it would not be appropriate for me to comment further at this stage pending the outcome of those deliberations. The very difficult financial position facing the Exchequer will obviously require very careful management across all areas of expenditure.

A major priority for the Government in the coming months will be to finalise the current value for money and policy review of disability services to ensure that existing funding for people with disabilities is spent to best effect. The review is expected to be completed by the end of this year. It will make recommendations that will ensure that the very substantial funding provided to the specialist disability health sector is used to maximum benefit for persons with a disability, having regard to overall resource constraints which affect all sectors at this difficult time. I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter.

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