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

I thank Deputy Andrews for raising this important issue.

The Government is fully committed to the development and enhancement of children's disability services through the implementation of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People or PDS programme. I fully acknowledge this change programme has been challenging for many stakeholders, in particular, for children and young people using the service as well as for their families. These challenges have resulted in unacceptably long delays for families to access much-needed therapies for their children. The Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities would like me to take this opportunity to reiterate on her behalf her sincerest apologies to any family experiencing such delays.

Prior to the introduction of the PDS programme, children in different parts of the country with the same needs got varying levels of service based on geography rather than need. This was clearly unfair and needed to change. The core principle of PDS is to achieve fairer and more equitable access to services for all children with disabilities based on their needs and not where they happen to live.

As the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities has said in this House, the reconfiguration of children's disability network teams, CDNTs, by the HSE has faced challenges, particularly relating to the recruitment and retention of staff. There is currently an average vacancy rate of 28% across the 91 CDNTs, which equates to approximately 524 vacancies out of a total allocation of 1,892 whole time equivalent staff. Notwithstanding these challenges, it is important to acknowledge the significant work involved in establishing the CDNTs and the services that are being delivered. Approximately 35,000 children are currently receiving services and supports provided by these teams.

Having said that, we must acknowledge there are waiting lists and there is much more work to do. In this regard, funding has been provided to the HSE for additional posts in recent years to strengthen the capacity of children's disability network teams to ensure services can be provided. This funding provides for in excess of 600 additional whole time equivalent posts for children's teams. It is evident the vacancies in the teams are not due to a lack of resources but due to the scarcities that exist in the health and social care sector for specialist therapy professionals.

I assure the House that the HSE continues to pursue a range of options to enhance the recruitment and retention of essential staff across all aspects of the health services, such as targeted national and international recruitment for CDNTs, the inclusion of an agreed relocation allowance where appropriate, the provision of both apprentice and sponsorship programmes for therapy grades, the employment of graduates as therapy assistants as they await CORU registration, and the expansion of therapy assistants in the system with the HSE supporting individuals to return to education to qualify as therapists.

I trust this clarifies the issue raised by the Deputy about Seán in Ringsend who suffers from autism, and I will bring the Deputy's views back to the Minister of State as soon as possible.

See this speech in context