Seanad debates

Tuesday, 21 June 2005

Disability Bill 2004: Report Stage.

 

3:00 pm

Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 8

In page 12, lines 3 to 8, to delete all words from and including "considered" in line 3 down to and including "provision" in line 8 and substitute "listed in order of importance, which are considered appropriate by the person or persons referred to in subsection (2) to meet the needs of the applicant and the period of time required by the person or persons for the provision of each of those services and the order of such provision, giving preference to services which are most needed by the applicant".

This is a very important part of the Bill and my amendments would help to strengthen the legislation. When an assessment report is issued, the subsequent service statement can only come into effect if the necessary funding is available to meet the requirements of the statement. A service statement may be prepared without the services being provided owing to lack of funding. To ensure that at the very least people get some services I am asking that the most important services be listed.

A person may have a requirement for physiotherapy and speech therapy, with the physiotherapy being more important. However, for largely financial reasons the speech therapist might be available and that service might be provided first. We should list the most important services for any individual and within a given period we should try to deliver those services. The period, which should be no more than 12 months, should be reviewed to see how we are doing in fulfilling the requirements of the service statement. If some services are provided and others are not we must list the outstanding needs of the person. We need to continue to review the needs to ensure they are met within a reasonable period. My amendment suggests that the review should be carried out every 12 months. If we do not review an individual's circumstances, requirements could slip through the net, as has happened in recent times. My amendments would help to ensure a link between the assessment report and the delivery of the service statement and to prioritise the needs of an individual leading to the delivery of the most important services. We then need to consider how to deliver the outstanding services within a reasonable timeframe.

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