Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I agree with the Deputy. While in 2024, nearly 1.4 million people accessed therapy services across disciplines including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, psychology, podiatry and all of that, in many cases waiting times are wholly unacceptable. To tackle this, the Department of Health is working closely with the HSE on a targeted, programmatic approach to managing therapy waiting lists in primary care, in particular. As well as looking at the longer term changes that are needed, we are trying to do what is possible right now. I have asked the HSE CEO to now put in place measures to address physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy waiting lists to reduce the waiting times for these three therapies to less than 10 months, which I hope will be achieved. That would be a massive improvement on where we are now. It would remove 60,000 people from the waiting lists across these three therapies and get them therapeutic services. That is a challenge but unless we set a direction and a target, which I have very clearly given to the HSE CEO, I am concerned nothing will change without some direction and the resources and support to do that.

I do acknowledge that we have global workforce challenges, the same as everybody else in healthcare. We are trying to advance initiatives to retain and recruit the skilled professionals we need. Recruitment efforts include offering permanent roles to all Irish HSCP graduates, streamlined registration with CORU, which has improved enormously over the last number of months, and the introduction of 320 new training places via the CAO. The Deputy will be aware that since January 2020, 5,019 additional therapists have joined the HSE, a 30% increase. In that time, 40 additional therapists have been recruited in the Cavan and Monaghan area, bringing the total to 177. The Deputy will be aware that includes 12 new occupational therapists, 14 physiotherapists, 7 dietitians and 3 speech and language therapists, demonstrating our commitment to strengthening front-line capacity. I still acknowledge the concerns the Deputy raised and remain committed to targeted reform in the way I have given direction to the HSE CEO.

See this speech in context