Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Conway for raising this matter which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for primary and social care, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. I assure Deputy Conway that the Government is committed to the provision and development of services for children with special needs, including autism, and to improving access by those children to services within available resources.

The HSE national review of autism services and the programme for progressing disabilities services for children and young people from birth to 18 years set out the overall policy context for the provision of autism services to children and young people, including assessment and intervention. This programme aims to remedy the variations in service provision that exist throughout the country. The objective of this programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services in all regions in the country and consistency of service delivery, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services regardless of where they live, where these children go to school or the nature of the individual child's difficulties. The transition to this new service model is taking place on a phased basis and includes consultation and engagement with stakeholders, including service users and their families. A number of HSE community health care organisations are successfully implementing this programme which requires significant preparatory work in engaging with families, schools and local communities as well as new policies, procedures and protocols in respect of multidisciplinary and multi-agency working. Once this preparatory work has been completed, additional posts are being provided to support the implementation of the new model of service.

Waterford, which has been working with the other counties in the local HSE community health organisation area, has put in place the required governance structure which will allow for additional posts to be provided in 2015. Additional funding of €4 million has been allocated to the programme in 2015, equating to €6 million in a full year. A total of 120 new therapy posts will be provided throughout the country in 2015. Work on finalising the specific allocation of these posts is nearing completion. The HSE has informed me that Waterford and the south east are being prioritised for therapy posts in 2015.

On the specific issue of autism assessment raised by the Deputy, the HSE has informed me that the multidisciplinary autism diagnostic service for Waterford is operated by the community-based disability service. This comprises a senior clinical psychologist, a senior speech and language therapist, a senior occupational therapist and a liaison worker who is a senior team leader. The first two of these posts are or will soon be vacant and are being prioritised for filling by the HSE.

The Deputy has referred to the consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist post at Waterford University Hospital. In line with a Vision for Change, there is an important liaison role for these services with the disability services described earlier, particularly in relation to ASD cases where issues of co-morbidity or complexity arise. I understand the consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist post at Waterford University Hospital is vacant. The HSE has informed me that every effort is being made to fill this post, including on a temporary basis while the procedure for permanent filling is proceeding. The HSE is also finalising proposals for a second child and adolescent mental health service response in Waterford.

I am surprised that the Deputy could not have been provided with that information without having to go through this process of submitting a Topical Issue matter. Unfortunately, this happens too often. The Deputy should be entitled to have her parliamentary questions adequately responded to by the HSE and by the Minister for Health.

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