Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach as an deis labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach seo. I thank Deputies O'Loughlin and O'Rourke for raising this important issue today. The Disability Act provides for an assessment of need for people with disabilities. Any child born on or after 1 June 2002 who is suspected of having a disability is eligible to apply for an assessment of need that will detail his or her health needs arising from the disability. Since its commencement in 2007, there have been significant year on year increases in the number of children applying both for assessment of need and disability services generally. Unfortunately, these increases have led to the extended waiting periods currently being experienced. Both the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, on whose behalf I am speaking today, and the HSE recognise that assessments of need and early intervention services are essential in supporting children with disabilities and their families. I am aware that the HSE has undertaken a number of initiatives to address the excessive waiting times. To improve the assessment of need process and ensure that children receive an intervention as soon as is possible, the HSE has developed a new standard operating procedure for the assessment of need process. The purpose of this is to ensure children with disabilities and their families access appropriate assessment and intervention as quickly as possible. In addition, it will ensure that the approach to assessment of need is consistent across all HSE community healthcare organisation, CHO, areas.

It is intended that the procedure will be implemented nationally from the fourth quarter of 2019. Both the HSE and the National Disability Authority have identified that an increase in therapy resources is required to meet current unmet need and projected future needs in children's disability services nationally. Budget 2019 provided funding for an additional 100 therapy posts to help to reduce the long waiting times for assessment of need and enable children with disabilities to access timely assessment and intervention. Some of these posts are in place and many others are at varying stages of the recruitment process. The HSE expects to have all new posts in place by the end of this year. In addition, HSE disability services is currently engaged in a major reconfiguration of its existing therapy resources tor children with disabilities into multidisciplinary geographically based teams, as part of its national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people under 18 years of age. The key objective of this programme is to bring about equity of access to disability services and consistency of service delivery, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their difficulties. Evidence to date from areas where this has been rolled out shows that implementation of this programme will also have a positive impact on waiting lists both for assessments of need and therapy provision. While not addressing all needs, I am confident that these initiatives will have a significant positive impact in reducing waiting times for assessment of need over the course of the next year. I hope this clarifies matters for the Deputies.

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