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

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and giving me the opportunity to respond to it. I am very aware of the case of Caroline Goldsmith, whom he mentioned. On my ministerial visits throughout the country, I was horrified to hear about the experience parents had whereby they had got their diagnoses but were not allowed to use them, given they were not accepted by the HSE and so on.

It is important for me to set out what is in place. I am sure the House will be aware children’s disability services are provided based on the presenting needs of the child rather than his or her diagnosis or the actual type of disability or service required. Services are provided following individual assessment according to the child's individual requirements and support needs. The national policy on access to services for children and young people with disability and developmental delay ensures children will be directed to the appropriate service based on the complexity of their presenting needs rather than their diagnosis. This policy provides a single point of entry signposting parents and referrers to the most appropriate service. That may be primary care for non-complex functional difficulties, or children's disability network teams for complex functional difficulties.

Psychologists are not yet subject to CORU registration, something I was not aware of until recently, but the HSE and its funded service providers ensure all psychologists employed in their services are appropriately qualified. Psychologists' qualifications are validated as part of the recruitment processes. The Psychological Society of Ireland, PSI, recently published professional practice guidelines for the assessment of autism. The HSE has advised it is aware of these guidelines and they will be considered by the HSE in due course. I fully concurred with the society's president when he stated at the launch of the guidelines that autistic children and adolescents deserve the same chances in life as their peers, and that improving the diagnosis process is the first important step on that journey.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy I attended a day-long workshop last Friday that began the process of developing new interim guidelines to support the assessment of need process and guide front-line staff. The workshop was attended by key stakeholders, including senior HSE officials, Department of Health officials and professional body representatives. Children and young people were represented in the form of a number of parents who attended. In the interim, the standard operating procedure as part of the assessment of need process has reverted to the previous model and practitioners will use their clinical judgment in ongoing assessments.

Following the commissioning and publication of the review of the Irish health services for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, the HSE commenced the implementation of a service improvement programme for the autistic community based on its recommendations, and a national autism programme board was established with responsibility for leading the implementation of the review report recommendations. The board comprises senior operational and clinical decision-makers as well as independent professional and academic support. Importantly, the programme board includes representation from persons with lived experience of autism.

In Crumlin, when I listened to parents stand up to describe their experiences, everyone was aghast at the cost.

At the back of the room, there was another woman who was not aware of the fraud she felt had been perpetrated upon her. We had three people in the one room. I went to Dunshaughlin the following week and another woman declared the same thing. I thank the Deputy for using the floor to raise this issue.

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