Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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73. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions she has taken to date to reduce the assessment of need waiting list; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32747/25]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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My question follows on from the previous one. What actions is the Minister of State taking to reduce the ever growing waiting lists for assessment of need? We know from the HSE that it expects the waiting list will exceed 24,000 and will be closer to 25,000 by the end of this year.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As I have said, the Government absolutely recognises that waiting times for assessment of need is far too long and we are committed to reforming the assessment of need process.

Both this Department and the HSE have been working intensively to progress measures to address these waiting times. I want to emphasise again to parents that while children have a right to apply for the assessment of need, they do not need one to access health services, including those provided by primary care, CDNTs or mental health services.

Demand for assessments of need, as we all acknowledge, has increased significantly in recent years, which is a reflection of both the increase in population and an increase in the number of families exploring all options to ensure their children receive appropriate services.

The HSE advises that in 2024 it received more than 10,000 assessment of need applications, which is more than double the 4,700 applications received in 2020. The most recent data from the HSE show that at the end of March over 15,000 assessment of needs were overdue for completion. To address this, the HSE is working to increase its capacity to deliver assessment of need. Over the past year, there has been an improvement in the number of assessments of need completed, with an increase of 30% in 2024 compared to 2023. Recent HSE data show that this trend is continuing this year with a 65% increase in completed assessments of need in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year.

This has been achieved by a number of measures, including the assessment of need waiting list initiative agreed by the Government, which targets those families waiting longest for an assessment of need with funding provided for the procurement of assessments from approved private providers.

As I said earlier in reply to the Deputy’s colleague, regional assessment hubs are being rolled out by the HSE. They are aligned with the six new HSE regions. We are also reviewing potential legislative changes in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General to support the effectiveness and efficiency of the assessment of need process.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. She may not have them with her but is it possible to get figures? She gave percentage increases of 30% and 65% in the first few months of this year. If she has the figures for what that means in the numbers of assessments of need, that would be really helpful.

While the Government continues to build public capacity which is very important, the Minister of State previously said that funding will not be an issue in accessing private capacity. Has the HSE examined how much more private capacity can be reached to see how many more people can be taken off the waiting list?

Can the Minister of State update us on staffing and the set up and establishment of the regional assessment hubs? Where are they at in terms of their establishment and set up? What will they mean for people in those areas on the waiting lists?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I do not have a breakdown of the numbers of children who have gone through the process but there has been a 65% increase in assessments in the first three months compared with the same period last year. Even with that said, we know we have a lot more work to do to get through that. I might not have said it earlier, but we absolutely acknowledge people’s statutory right to have access to an assessment of need process. What we want to do here is make sure we have the pipeline of therapists coming through. We are relying on the private sector too and we allocated in budget 2025. Those private assessments are being carried out this year. I can get the exact figure. It is approximately 2,800 this year but I will come back to the Deputy to confirm that.

We are examining what we can do in regard to therapy assistants to try to assist therapists in getting clinical placements within CDNTs. The Minister for education is ramping up in-school therapies in our special schools. My door is open. If there are other suggestions from the Deputy, I would welcome them.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State. I presume and expect that, as we come to budget 2026, she will consider further capacity to reduce waiting lists further, in particular as the HSE is expected to exceed a waiting list of 24,000 by the end of the year, an incredible figure. We need to consider how much we can get from private capacity.

In her final response, the Minister of State might speak about regional assessment hubs. When will they be established? What will they mean for people on waiting lists? Do we know how many children and people on waiting lists will be seen? How will the system work and play a role in reducing and tackling long waiting lists?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Regional assessment hubs are being rolled out. We had a meeting with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, on that. I can get updated information for the Deputy on that. My understanding is that they are starting to be rolled out. That will help to reduce waiting lists.

We have also worked with the HSE to seek to introduce specific recruitment and retention initiatives for therapists to work in CDNTs, along with a CDNT sponsorship programme with bursaries for fourth year and postgraduate students, linked to the acceptance of a traditional job offers.

There have been recruitment fairs, including one in May where one of the focus areas was on therapies and therapists. We are going into secondary schools around the country to encourage people to work in social care and talking about the value of working in these areas. There is a huge drive to encourage more people to get into this area. We also need to examine other Departments which are drawing on the assessment of need process where they do not need to and it is not required.