Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for attending take this Commencement matter. I have always been a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. I firmly believe that society has a responsibility to ensure every person is supported to reach his or her full potential. As legislators, we have even more of responsibility in that regard.

The Fianna Fáil Party stood before the people at the previous two general elections on a manifesto of An Ireland for All. People with disabilities deserve the same opportunities and have absolutely the same right to reach their full potential as any other member of society. We need to deliver for them and we are failing them badly. Access to adequate and appropriate medical and therapeutic supports is a vital necessity for many people living with disabilities. Without adequate access many people will simply not achieve their potential. We all know the importance of all early intervention in helping children learn the very basic skills many take for granted, such as crawling, walking and speaking. The first four years of life are so important and when children do not automatically develop those skills, they need help and support through State intervention to ensure they do. There is nothing more heartwarming than a parent or a sibling seeing a child taking a step or putting a few words together for the first time. In my experience families will go to the ends of the earth to do what they can but they cannot do it alone. They need help and support and they must be provided by the State.

I am regularly contacted by people in my area of south Kildare who have been waiting up to 18 months to gain access to the Kildare and West Wicklow children's disability network team, CDNT. These delays are detrimental to the development of children in our area and often cause serious stress and strain for families. We talk about a postcode lottery.The CDNT of area 11, which takes in Kildare, is the Cinderella in this regard.

I am dealing with one case of a local child due to start primary school in September. Let us call the child John. John's mother noticed as early as his first birthday that he was missing milestones, was concerned about this and raised the matter with her doctor. Due to Covid-19, nothing was done. She continued to monitor him and raised the red flag periodically. It was only when she was in with her doctor for a routine pregnancy check-up on her next child that she mentioned it again. At that point John was referred to a new paediatric doctor. The child was accepted by the CDNT but there is currently an 18-month waiting list. In subsequent conversations with the staff on the CDNT, however, who bear no fault in this scenario and are going over and above their duties in supporting families, the mother was informed there is no guarantee the child would be accepted.

To this day, at more than four years old, John is still non-verbal. He has had no proper assessment or help. He is to enter his second year of preschool in September and his family will need to begin the process of primary school applications from October 2022. His mother has been informed he will not be accepted in mainstream classes if he is non-verbal and she cannot apply for a school place in an autism spectrum disorder, ASD, class without a full report to state he requires it.

What is John or his mother meant to do? This is not an isolated case and I have plenty of other examples. We must tackle the problem and I ask the Minister of State what he can do to help ease this pressure and support people with disabilities.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this important matter for discussion. I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for disability matters, Deputy Anne Rabbitte.

The Government remains firmly committed to ensuring the provision of the best possible health and social care services for both children and adults with special needs, whether they are therapy supports, respite, residential care or day services. The Government recognises that children's disability services face significant challenges to provide services in a timely and effective manner. The Minister of State is fully committed to the development and enhancement of children's disability services through the implementation of the progressing disability services, PDS, programme. She recognises this change programme has been challenging for many stakeholders and, in particular, the families of children who require these services urgently. As the Senator will be aware, the Minister of State has met many families and listened to their concerns first-hand to ascertain the issues and drive solutions.

I assure the Senator significant efforts are being made by the HSE to reduce waiting times for children who require all therapy supports, and that objective is a key component of the PDS programme. The full reconfiguration of children's disability services in the children's disability network teams, with a total of 91 CDNTs across nine community healthcare organisations, CHOs, is a positive step. It allows CDNTs to move towards the family-centred practice at the heart of phase 2.

It must be acknowledged that there have been significant challenges in certain parts of the country with the implementation of the PDS programme. There is a challenging environment related to recruitment and retention of staff working in CDNTs, which is affecting the level of service provided in a significant number of teams across the country. However, this is not a resource issue and the Government has provided funding since 2019 to allow the HSE to employ an additional 475 whole-time equivalent posts to increase the capacity of all 91 CDNTs.

The HSE is proactively pursuing a range of options regarding the recruitment of additional staff for the CDNTs and in the first instance this comprised national and international recruitment campaigns to attract those health professionals currently in short supply. In addition, the HSE is exploring options such as sponsorship and expanded use of assistant grades.

I assure the Senator that both the Government and the HSE remains committed to the delivery of appropriate services for children with disabilities and they will work with families and staff to develop services that meet their needs. Having regard to the issue she raised, the HSE has advised that local disability services have allocated development posts for this year to each of the three Kildare CDNTs. In addition, in conjunction with lead agencies, it has commenced a consortium-based recruitment initiative to explore UK and overseas recruitment, if necessary, to fill all development, vacant and maternity posts that it has until now been unsuccessful in filling from recent domestic recruitment campaigns.

The Senator spoke about parents waiting for 18 months and this is seemingly far too long. I will bring those views to the Minister of State.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State and welcome the fact that three development posts have been allocated. I have spoken about a postcode lottery and there is even a stark difference within the county of Kildare. I spoke recently to a mum whose family relocated from north Kildare to south Kildare. In north Kildare, her daughter was receiving all the different therapies she needed but following the move to south Kildare, she has not received anything in the space of 12 months. That is simply not good enough. Of course, these are not isolated cases.

In CHO 7, which covers south Kildare, there are 752 children waiting six to 12 months for initial contact. According to the statistics, 1,484 children are waiting more than 12 months, which is shocking. These are damning statistics. These are children with complex additional needs in their formative years and they and their parents will never get that time back. We must deal with this and ease the pressure on services so we can support these children and their families.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for outlining her heartfelt and genuine concerns regarding delays in children with special needs accessing much-needed therapy supports in a timely fashion. It is a concern shared by all Members. It is imperative we work together to tackle the recruitment challenge and, in that regard, the HSE has continued to make every effort to support the recruitment of essential staff to expand the capacity of CDNTs. It is imperative teams are staffed to their maximum capacity if we are to provide the best possible service for all children with complex needs, regardless of the county in which they live, or as the Senator mentioned, what part of a county they live in.

It is understood that delays in accessing health services of any kind can have a devastating effect, and this is all the more so when it involves a child who cannot access services. I assure the House that the Government and the HSE remains fully committed to the delivery of high-quality child and family-centred services for children with disabilities. We will work with families and staff to develop services to meet those needs.