Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak about the impact that Covid-19 has had on people with disabilities. It is great to see Government time dedicated to the discussion of disability, which indicates the Government's commitment to resolving the different issues facing people with disabilities throughout the country.

If I could take a second of the Acting Chairperson's time, from a Business Committee point of view, perhaps in future we might make disability a little more front and centre during Government time as well. This is the graveyard shift, as I call it, on a Thursday evening when many Deputies have left the premises to return to their constituencies. It is not the first time I have stood on the floor of the Dáil to deliver a speech on a Thursday evening. I thank my colleagues who are in the House at the moment to hear it, and I am sure many Deputies are listening as they travel, but perhaps in future, somewhere along the line, we can make disabilities front and centre of a conversation, not last for delivery. That is nothing to do with the Acting Chairperson. It is about the Business Committee and the allocation of time. It is unforgivable and not acceptable to the families we all speak about and represent.

At the outset, I have to mention that one of the key parts of our health supports for people with disabilities is carers and the incredible work they do. Let us not kid ourselves: without carers doing the work they do our health service would be under even more pressure than it is. I want to state that clearly. We are indebted to the goodwill, sweat and stress of our carers. The physical, mental and emotional strain that goes with the role is not lost on me. I want to acknowledge that today and put it on the record.

As we all know, Covid-19 upended people from every walk of life. Nearly every family in Ireland has been affected and too many have lost loved ones. However, while everyone has been affected in some way, the effects have not been spread evenly across society. Over the course of the pandemic, carers have shown how vital a national support and service they are. Carers of people with disabilities have been disproportionately impacted as supports have ceased during the pandemic. It would be wildly inappropriate of me to pretend that is not the case. Today, I will present the stark facts and figures of how Covid has affected people with disabilities and its impact on specific health-funded disability services.

As Deputies are aware, the HSE has been the victim of a cyberattack, meaning the following statistics can only be confirmed up to 12 May. There have been 324 outbreaks of Covid in disability settings, 155 of them in 2021. Most of these have been declared closed while four remain open. There have been approximately 2,200 confirmed cases in disability settings, 1,250 of them in 2020. Service users and staff tested positive in similar numbers.

Since the cyberattack, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, HPSC, has provided figures for the week ending 5 June, showing one further outbreak with two cases. It also reported four outbreaks in special schools for that week, with 17 cases in total. These figures are provisional and subject to review. At the outset, I offer my sincere condolences to all who have lost loved ones to Covid-19. I know losing a loved one is a terrible experience and grieving in the midst of this pandemic has made it even tougher. Tragically, 47 service users are known to have died, including 20 confirmed deaths since the start of this year. However, this figure is subject to change following ongoing verification by the HPSC.

The HSE reported to us that since the roll-out of the vaccination programme in disability services the number of outbreaks has fallen to a trickle, while those who have tested positive have experienced mild symptoms. The evidence shows that people with disabilities who are exposed to Covid-19 can be at great risk of severe disease. For this reason, I sought to ensure disability service users and staff were prioritised in the vaccination roll-out programme. The focus has been on ensuring those who face the greatest risk of severe disease and death, the oldest and most vulnerable in society, as well as those who care for them, were vaccinated at the earliest opportunity.

I am pleased to inform the House that the HSE has ensured people who live in disability residential settings and those who attend day services have been vaccinated as part of the 271,000 people included in cohort 4. These are people aged 16 to 69 at a very high risk from Covid-19 disease. The administration of the second vaccination dose for this cohort began on the week beginning 10 May and is expected to be completed by early July. Many people in receipt of health-funded disability services who have complex comorbidity health conditions but might not be attending day services are also in receipt of vaccinations. They are largely included in cohort 7, which comprises people aged 16 to 59 with medical conditions and at high risk from Covid. There are 250,000 people in this cohort, vaccinations for whom began in May and are being delivered primarily through GPs. The first dose for this cohort is expected to be completed shortly.

In March 2020, all health-funded disability day services were obliged to close. Since then, the HSE and service provider organisations have collaborated to reimagine and reopen services for people with disabilities in line with public health guidelines. There has been a collective response from all service providers and representative organisations to provide the best possible level of service to people with disability in line with best practice.

Shortly after my appointment as Minister of State last August, I ensured the provision of disability services was deemed essential, which saw the return of many disability services. The HSE provided guidance on Covid-19 for disability services and residential and group home facilities, which included the prevention and control of outbreaks in residential facilities. The suite of guidance, training and support from HSE disability services, HSE public health and HIQA aligns with the recommendations of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and has mitigated the impact of Covid-19 on our service users who live in disability residential settings.

I am aware many people may have concerns around the delivery of service following the HSE cyberattack. However, most community health services, including disability services such as adult day service and children therapy services, are operating as normal. Service users are advised to attend as normal, and many disruptions or changes to services are listed on a county-by-county basis on the HSE website. Service users will be contacted if there any changes. All service providers should now be delivering a minimum of 60% of pre-Covid levels of location-based support for day services.

Respite services are another key area for me as they play such an important role in supporting families. This year, we will see the opening of nine new respite centres, one in each community healthcare organisation, CHO, area. The first of these, a centre providing respite for children in Limerick, has already started service provision. The others are being finalised and are due to come on stream in quarter 3 and quarter 4. I look forward to updating my colleagues on these projects as they advance. Approximately 50% of disability respite services remained throughout the pandemic while others were temporarily repurposed as isolation facilities. A three-phased approach is now in place where services continue to reopen over the coming months. Funding from budget 2021 was made available to support additional respite services. People with complex medical and clinical needs have been asked to remain at home and will receive home support, where possible, subject to risk assessment and prioritisation.

On children's services, I assure Deputies that the clearing of the backlog for assessment of need continues to be prioritised. While the number of overdue assessments of needs stood at approximately 6,500 in June 2020, through a combination of different measures, approximately 5,150 needs assessments were completed by the end of April 2021. This means a little more than 1,300 cases are outstanding, nationally, with four CHOs having cleared their backlog. This is an overall reduction of approximately 80%.

The progressing disability services, PDS, for children and young people programme ensures vital therapeutic interventions can be delivered in the timeliest manner. Under PDS, children's services will be reconfigured into 91 children's disability networks by the end of this month. These teams will deliver equitable child and family-centred services for children. Young people with complex needs are the new model of service.

No Deputies during the debate addressed the pausing of the removal of therapists' posts from special schools.

That meant there was the need to source 85 additional therapist positions, which I was fortunate in securing on top of the 100 other therapist posts. That should help in the delivery of therapy intervention as soon as possible.

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