Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I the Deputy for raising this important matter for discussion. On behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, I restate this Government's commitment to children and young people with disabilities, as well as their families. The Deputy talked about Leo Dixon and the fact that a letter spent nine weeks on a desk. That is simply unacceptable. The Deputy was involved in the private sector and ran her own haulage company. It is very difficult to stand over a letter spending nine weeks on a desk. That is certainly not the way a Department or service should be run, leaving aside all of the other issues the Deputy outlined with regard to the wheelchair and so on. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, accepts that the HSE has faced considerable challenges in parts of the country in the implementation of the progressing disability services programme. This has resulted in delays for families in accessing much-needed therapies for their children. Historically, children's disability services have been provided by a range of statutory and non-statutory service providers and the type and level of service provided varied widely across the country.

The progressing disability services, PDS, model seeks to address the previous unacceptable inequity in service provision where there may have been an excellent service for some children and little or no service for others.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has stated previously in this House, the reconfiguration of children's disability network teams, CDNTs, across the country has been challenging, particularly in the context of staffing. To illustrate these challenges, the HSE recently undertook a national children's disability network team staff census, which highlighted that the CHOs are, on average, operating with a 28% vacancy rate. The unfortunate reality is that there are recruitment challenges due to the significant availability of new posts across the health and social care sector, both public and private. These staffing issues have resulted in delays for families to access much-needed therapies for their children, delays which have caused untold stress and justifiable anger on the part of these families. That anger is understandable and, once again, on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, I wish to put on record the Government's sincerest apologies to any family experiencing such delays.

Such delays are simply unacceptable and need to be overcome to ensure delivery. In that regard, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is currently engaging in a series of meetings with the heads of disability services across the nine CHOs to hear what is happening on the ground in their respective areas. It is expected that these discussions will provide the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, with further detail on the challenges being encountered and, it is hoped, will generate potential solutions.

The Deputy will also be aware of the recent High Court judgment on the assessment of needs process. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is attending a day-long workshop tomorrow, the aim of which is to develop new interim guidelines to support the assessment of needs process and guide front-line staff. This workshop will be attended by key stakeholders, including senior HSE officials, Department of Health officials and representatives of professional bodies. Most importantly, children and young people will also be represented in the form of parents' representatives. In the interim, the use of the standard operating procedure as part of the assessment of needs process has ceased and practitioners will use their clinical judgment in relation to ongoing assessments. As we begin this process, we need to reaffirm that the assessment of needs is only the first stage of a journey towards vital therapy supports. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, remains committed to ensuring that the journey is made easier for families throughout the country.

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