Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish all the women in the House and across the complex - and I better mention my wife Helen at home - the very best of luck on International Women's Day.

The children's disability network team, CDNT, staff census and workforce review was published during the week. To be truthful, its contents are troubling to say the least. Of the 2,102 approved full-time equivalent places, a staggering 707 are still vacant. That equates to a national average of 34%. I want to focus attention on the areas that cover north and south Tipperary, namely, community healthcare organisations, CHOs, 3 and 5 and their CDNTs. As I said, the average staffing vacancy rate for 2022 was 34% nationally. In CHO 5, which covers south Tipperary, the vacancy rate was an astonishing 42%. If we go more local than that, the vacancy rate for the CDNTs operating in Clonmel was 37%. In Cashel, it was even worse at 39%.

The Minister of State might say that vacancies are not as bad in CHO 3 with a 19% staffing vacancy rate. That area also has the lowest allocation of staff and had no additional positions allocated last year. A 19% vacancy rate for that area is atrocious. CHO 5, on the other hand, had a higher number of posts approved; it was up 16%. There was no change in the number of filled posts, however. Consequently, it has a vacancy rate of 42%, which is way above the national average.

The Minister of State will outline the number of additional positions the Department is trying to fill and I appreciate that. The fact is that in CHO 5, where more spaces are being made available, the rate of vacancies can often be even higher. This is due to the Department’s inability to recruit staff because of the additional workload they are expected to shoulder due to the high rate of vacancies and issues with pay parity. Indeed, there are roles where there were fewer staff now than there were even in 2021.

In CHO 3, the number of occupational therapists is down by five. In CHO 5, the number of speech and language therapists is down by five. These are just small examples. Despite more than 25 new posts being allocated, in CHO 5, the rate of increase in actual posts available is 0.01. Across the entire south east, the number of dieticians has not changed. I will get to that matter later. It is also appropriate to point out that more than 500 of the 707 posts vacant last year existed in 2021. It is clear that the Government’s approach is not having the effect it should.

This is what families are faced with. They cannot get the timely services they need and many have had no choice but to get themselves in debt or go private. I cannot tell the Minister of State the number of parents who have done just that or the number who wish they could afford to do so.

Has data been collected from exit interviews to get feedback from workers with a view to identifying how best to address their concerns and issues of pay parity among providers?

Can the Minister of State indicate whether she has faith in the progressing disability services, PDS, programme or if she believes in an independent review with an alternative system in mind? For families who have spent money that they do not have to spare, will there be financial relief for them and for family carers or can provision be made through the National Treatment Purchase Fund?

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