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

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to update the House on the four children’s disability network teams, CDNTs, in County Meath. Network 2, where the HSE is the lead agency, covers Kells, Oldcastle and north Meath, while network 6, also led by the HSE, covers Athboy, Dunboyne, Enfield, Summerhill and Trim. Enable Ireland is the lead agency for network 4, covering Ashbourne, Duleek, Dunshaughlin, Laytown, Bettystown and Ratoath, and network 5, covering Navan and Slane.

CHO 8, similar to other parts of the health service, is experiencing significant recruitment challenges. These challenges are not unique to this CHO and are affecting many teams throughout the country and across many clinical disciplines, which is having an impact on service delivery. Notwithstanding these challenges, staffing numbers across the four CDNTs now sits at 70.3 whole-time equivalents, up 9% year on year, and over 10% since 2021. Compared with Cavan, which we discussed earlier, it is a completely different story. While I acknowledge that vacancies exist across the CDNTs, it is also important to note that three of the four CDNTs have higher staffing levels than in 2023, with the fourth team maintaining its level year on year.

Over the past four years, 33.3 staff have been added in CDNT 2 and more than 73.9 staff have been added in CDNT 4. In CDNT 5, which is an Enable Ireland team, 91 staff have been added. In CDNT 6, a total of 50 staff have been added. Over those four teams in County Meath, 248 staff have been added. I can share the figures in tabular format with the Deputy after Question Time.

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