Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Reilly for raising this important issue. At the outset, I want to state that myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, recognise the very real impact that delays in receiving therapies or assessments have had for children and their families. Deputy O'Reilly has spoken powerfully about its impact on Alison, Mark and most importantly, on Ada.

The progressing disability services, PDS, programme has been challenging for many stakeholders but most importantly for children and young people using the service and their families. I am aware that these challenges have resulted in unacceptable delays for families seeking to access essential therapies for their children. As responsibility for disability services has now moved to my Department, addressing these challenges in the number one priority for myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.

Children’s disability network teams, CDNTs, were established in Community Healthcare Organisation Dublin North City and County, CHO DNCC - CHO 9, in late September 2021. The HSE advises that current wait times for the Balbriggan CDNT indicate a total number of children waiting on services for its team of just over 600. The Deputy referenced a figure of 1,000 so I will inquire about the discrepancy there. Local management are acutely aware of these figures and are seeking improved access to services with a focus on rolling out universal and targeted care pathways for children and families awaiting Central Remedial Clinic, CRC, Balbriggan CDNT services.

The key enabler to address these figures is recruitment. We need to see therapists installed in teams to enhance capacity. As we are all aware, CDNTs are experiencing challenges in the recruitment and retention of health and social care professionals. Unfortunately, while funding has been allocated to fill vacancies, CHO DNCC is experiencing an average vacancy rate of 35%. In Balbriggan, the CDNT is operating at a 40% vacancy rate for clinical posts.

In terms of measures to address this recruitment challenge, HSE DNCC disability services along with the lead agencies are running a targeted international recruitment campaign for therapists and interviews are ongoing. Concurrently, CHO DNCC has undertaken to increase administrative support to all the CDNTs to enable existing clinical staff to devote more of their time directly to children and families.

Nationally, the HSE is also taking measures to encourage recruitment and retention of staff in CDNTs. These measures include targeted national and international recruitment, to include an agreed relocation allowance where appropriate, apprenticeship 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. While recruitment efforts proceed, the HSE is also driving a number of initiatives to reduce waiting times for children and families and providing the support they so urgently need, such as sourcing therapy assessments and interventions externally via private service providers.

I can advise that CDNTs have prioritisation and caseload management systems, including for assessment and intervention pathways, in place ensuring that children with the highest priority of need can access services.

This range of initiatives to improve recruitment is set out in the PDS roadmap, which is being agreed between the HSE and myself and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. Funding has been provided to the HSE for 600 additional posts in recent years to strengthen the capacity of CDNTs to ensure services can be provided. Vacancies are arising not because of a lack of funding but because of supply issues in the health and social care sector for specialist therapy professionals. While this is a real challenge, I wish to reiterate my full commitment and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to pursuing every avenue in order to improve access and reduce waiting times for children in Balbriggan, in CHO9 and across the country.

See this speech in context