Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address this important issue in the House this afternoon. The programme for Government, Our Shared Future, includes a commitment for advancing neurorehabilitation services in the community.The HSE is leading on the implementation framework in respect of recommendations of the national policy and strategy for that provision of neurorehabilitation services in Ireland 2011 to 2015. The implementation framework for the neurorehabilitation strategy was launched in February 2019 and provides guidance for the development of specialist neurorehabilitation services across the continuum of care from acute, to post-acute, and community services. I am delighted the Senator raised this because I read in the Meath Chroniclelast week that Ms Sorcha Burke, or maybe Ms Sorcha Boyle, I do not know which, lives in Ardee, County Louth. She is an multiple sclerosis, MS, sufferer and she talks very clearly as to the need for the community neurorehabilitation teams. I met the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, NAI, in 2023 in relation to their pre-budgetary submission. It represents 34 organisations. Senator McGreehan mentioned some of those organisations and the Neurological Alliance of Ireland also represents the likes of the Brain Awareness Week, the Huntington's Disease Association of Ireland, Bloomfield Health Services, Cheshire Ireland, Chronic Pain Ireland, and many more, 34 organisations. Their ask for budget 2023 was to appoint 20 additional nurse specialists across adult neurology. Not only did I appoint 20, I appointed 28.

That does not sit under my brief it is the Minister for Health's brief believe it or not but because it was such an important part within the strategy the acute services needed to be connected to the community to work the strategy correctly. I actually paid for 28 neuro nurses from my own budget into acute. That is done.

The next piece was to fully resource at least four of the seven required community teams in neurorehabilitation. That was at a cost of €1.8 million. I have appointed the €1.8 million so I have fully funded CHO 2 and CHO 4. I discovered why CHO 6 and CHO 7 were not fully operationalised. The reason they were not fully operationalised was that under proper clinical governance what was provided for funding in budget 2019 and probably 2020, before we hit Covid-19, was actually not proper clinical governance. Five people on a team was not enough, a minimum of ten was needed. Guess what I have done? From unspent money this year I will award the additional funding to step up the teams in CHO 6 and CHO 7. I have worked very closely with Mr. Brian Higgins and the HSE, which is under reform. To be fair to Mr. Higgins he worked in Bloomfields so he has a great understanding of the value of community neurorehabilitation teams. He and the HSE understand the connection between the acute piece, the community piece, and actually living one's best life in their community and being supported in their community. That is why we are stepping up and the advertisements has taken place for CHO 2 and CHO 4 as we are talking. Any unspent funding will go towards the recruitment and stepping up of CHO 6 and CHO 7.

That is the four CHOs reached. The way Mr. Bernard Gloster is operating since 1 January 2023 is that we will have six regional health authorities, RHAs. Why would I fund nine when there will be six? We need to keep it married correctly. What I will commit to doing is, the NAI need to relax on their campaign, and their marketing, and everything else like that. This is a Minister of State who has her hand on the pulse and knows exactly what she is doing, working with reform, delivering on implementation of the framework and the strategy into which they all fit in, but also actually expanding the teams. If it means we need to have 45 people on a team, which was what on consultant told me, we will have 45 on a team. That is where we have to start at ground level. I will conclude in the next part.