Results 1,041-1,060 of 10,824 for speaker:Anne Rabbitte

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Teachers are not therapists, nor are they SNAs. Parents require the familiarity of a programme being delivered to our most vulnerable. While the 221 therapists across the country allocated for the budgetary period 2021-2022 has worked successfully in some areas, it has not worked in all.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: To be very fair to the HSE, when the PDS model was being developed it was about equity of access regardless of where you lived. That concept is a very noble one.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: If you lived above in Inishowen, which is a huge challenge for us at the moment, you should be able to access a community-based disability team that has a speech and language therapist, an OT, a physiotherapist and access to psychologist. It should not be all urban-based, so to be very fair to the HSE 91 of those teams have shown flexibility. The flexibility is the teams of specialism where...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I will start with the live database. There is an ICT system, 50% of which is functioning as we speak. All the HSE organisations are talking to each other but there is a GDPR issue regarding section 38 and 39 organisations and how they can plug into the system. It is still a paper-based approach. The question is how to then identify those waiting a long time in section 38 or section 39...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Yes.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: That was always part of it.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I do not think it was offered in the Deputy's area, to be quite honest. On the point raised, and this is where I need assistance - Ministers sometimes need assistance and I have no problem in asking for that - it is correct to say there is capacity. If I am able to procure 1,800 therapists or interventions and 2,500 interventions in the private market, it tells me we have therapists...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: This gives me the leverage to acknowledge the new apprenticeship model that was launched in Cork in recent weeks with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, where there were 35 spaces, of which 24 were taken up by Tusla and 12 or 13 were taken up by the HSE. It is the apprenticeship model in social work. First and foremost, it is an opportunity to attract people who might not have been able to...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It is great to raise it with the HSE and with the Department, but approval for that will have to come from the Department of public expenditure. That is the place where that decision could be made. We see the difference it makes to nursing and to the skill sets. To be honest, my daughter is a trainee occupational therapist and last year she was placed in Dublin. She had been training in...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: There is a lot in that. At all times, my focus and that of the Department is to ensure that the child at the centre gets the intervention he or she needs in a timely fashion. I will be honest. We talk about the special schools. I was in Wexford over a year ago with Deputies James Browne and Kehoe and I visited a special school. I met with the principal, the board and some parents who...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I do not think a family forum meeting at 10.30 a.m. on a Tuesday, Wednesday or any other weekday morning is conducive to working parents. They only meet once every second month and I do think there has to be flexibility shown on the side of the CDNTs. They should understand the pressure families are under.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It is a very valuable question. We talk about reasonable accommodations. I know Niamh and she highlighted something to me that occurred during her French junior certificate exam. In the French exam, there were pictures but Niamh is visually impaired. It was down how somebody described the pictures and Niamh could have lost or gained marks because of what was on the paper. The Sate...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Report on Assessments of Need for Children: Discussion (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank the Deputy for that contribution. He is right that while some things might work in one area, they might not work in another area. The most important thing any parent or teacher would want is that there is proper clinical governance. That is the most important piece. I totally understand why no principal, board or organisation would take on that risk as it is not their field. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Care Services (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: There is no doubt that we have had challenges with recruiting staff. Funding has been provided. The Deputy has mentioned all the brilliant organisations in his area. When they are working at full tilt in the Cork area, they are providing 10,000 bed nights on an annual basis. That is just Cork alone. He talked about Enable's Lavanagh House. That has not got full capacity yet. It is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Care Services (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: There is no doubt that respite is not one-size-fits-all. Respite needs to be a suite of measures whether it is after-school, Saturday clubs, sibling clubs or holiday camps as well as the in-home support, the residential part of it, the shared care and the home support. It is a suite of measures. Where families are finding that the in-home support is not actually meeting their needs, that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: Both the Government and the HSE acknowledge the ongoing challenges faced with the delivery of therapies for children with autism and their families. Disability services are provided based on the presenting needs of an individual assessment according to the person’s requirements and care needs. The HSE is focused on implementing the actions of the PDS roadmap which will target...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: When looking at the alternatives, the Deputy is right about the AAC devices. That is why we funded AsIAm this year to purchase more assistive technology devices. The HSE and the Department of Education are purchasing in whole. AsIAm will purchase the guts of 600 devices to be made available to children. Not only will they be made available to children, but they will also be enhanced with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: I would say he would.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disabilities Assessments (18 Jun 2024)

Anne Rabbitte: It is acknowledged that demand for assessments of need (AONs) is escalating, with a 25% year-on-year increase in the number of AON applications received in 2023. Following on from a Government decision in May, a targeted initiative focussed on long waiting families is being developed by the HSE. This waiting list initiative will result in 2,500 privately sourced AONs. This initiative...