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

As I said, it is a whole-of-Department of Health response and I am ably supported by the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in trying to find those solutions and putting proposals to the Department of Health and the HSE to take this on board. That is why we met Paul Reid a number of weeks ago in terms of trying to redesign the progressing disability services, PDS, programme and that transition piece and the gaps that are there, trying to work it all out as to the various complements to ensure children get timely access to a service, to assessment and, most importantly, to intervention. This is about having the proper clinical oversight and support and supporting the therapy assistant levels, whether in psychology, in occupational therapy or in physiotherapy. We are totally open to that proposal.

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