Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The overarching aim of the neuro-rehabilitation strategy is the development of neuro-rehabilitation services to improve patient outcomes by providing safe, high-quality, person-centred neuro-rehabilitation at the lowest appropriate level of complexity. It straddles acute hospitals and primary care as well as specialist community-based disability services.

The past few years have seen consistent funding being provided to advance the roll-out of the neuro-rehabilitation strategy. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality as well as the Department of Health, aim to continue this important work to ensure there is a fully integrated service available to those people who need it. As part of the strategy, the HSE is in the process of expanding the number of community neuro-rehabilitation teams across the country. The current position is that four new teams have been recruited and will be operational this year.

A further two partial teams are in place that predate the strategy. There is currently no community neuro-rehabilitation team, CNRT, operational in HSE Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary South, Waterford-Wexford, HSE Midlands or HSE Dublin and North East. Moving forward with the neuro-rehabilitation strategy, the aim is to enhance the existing CNRTs, fund those areas that do not have a CNRT and create a large population-based CNRT within each regional health area following the implementation of the new regional health areas under Sláintecare. Additional funding will be a matter for the annual budgetary process.

As outlined in the 2025 national service plan, the HSE is committed to developing community neuro-rehabilitation teams in line with the implementation framework and enhancing capacity for its implementation nationally. A care pathway has to be integrated to make sure people are getting these services as close to home as possible. That is at the basis of the Deputy's question today.

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