Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his response. Certainly, the Minister fully acknowledges the frustration of those who are impacted by the restrictions in diatetic services in CHO, 7, and that of their families. He agrees that much more needs to be done to address the gaps in staffing and the waiting list for dieticians, in addition to other key primary care services. As the Deputy said, the new development posts are welcome news but the translation of that into those posts being filled, in a country of full employment where there are challenges filling posts, does not offer much comfort to that family. Certainly, if there is anything the Government can do to help in that specific case, the Deputy should bring it to the direct attention of the Minister as a possible way forward for this specific case. Again, as the Deputy said, there are other cases in audiology where there are other families as well and it is critically important that the HSE moves to try to get those posts filled as quickly as possible.

The Department of Health has also engaged with the HSE in advancing a programme of work to both develop short-term and longer-term strategies to address the need for more consistent management and a reduction in waiting lists for primary care therapies, with a national oversight group charged with progressing this work due to meet in July. Ultimately, it is expected that this work will ensure consistency of access to primary care therapies irrespective of location and in a much timelier manner than is currently the case. I hope that offers some comfort to the Deputy and to the family of the case he raised with me.

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