Written answers

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Department of Health

Services for People with Disabilities

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Health the rationale and criteria used in determining a 3.7% budget cutback figure as the disability sector’s contribution to the health sector budget rationalisation plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1235/13]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The amount allocated for Disability Services this year is €1,535m, which is a reduction of 1.2% on the allocation for 2012. €6m of the reduction relates to savings and efficiencies in the disability sector and is based on the implementation of the recommendations in the Report of the Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services Programme (2012). This report points the way towards the achievement of optimal effectiveness and efficiency within the existing substantial resources expended on health and personal services for people with a disability. During 2013 the HSE will commence an early examination of the VFM findings in regard to rosters, skills mix, the unit cost base and average costs across the HSE-funded agencies in the sector. A commissioning and procurement framework will also be developed during the course of the year. The balance of the reduction relates to the disability sector share of staff numbers reductions, such as the Employment Control Framework (ECF) and the incentivised career break scheme.

The Government is committed to protecting frontline services for people with disabilities to the greatest possible extent and I am working to ensure that protection is afforded to the disability sector, and the Social Care area as a whole.

In 2013 the HSE is seeking to maximise the provision of services within available resources and to maintaining a consistent level to that provided in 2012, by providing the following specialist disability services:

- residential services to over 9,000 people with a disability;

- day services to over 22,000 people with intellectual and physical disabilities;

- respite residential support for over 7,500 people with intellectual and physical disabilities;

- 1.68m hours of Personal Assistant / Home Support Hours

The HSE's National Service Plan includes €150m in unallocated pay savings which are not, as yet, reflected in the programme or regional budgets. These pay savings targets will be allocated later in 2013, when the terms of the expected agreement with public sector unions on an extension of the Public Service Agreement becomes known.

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Health the way the social and economic implications of the policy of budget cutbacks for those school leavers with disabilities, who are no longer guaranteed rehabilitative training or day service funding, are to be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1236/13]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I recognise the importance of life-skills training and day care services to people with disabilities who are leaving the education system in 2013. Day services for adults with disabilities provide a network of support for people who have a wide spectrum of need, ranging from those with severe and profound disabilities who are likely to need long-term specialist service provision to people with lower support needs and greater potential for community participation and inclusion. The HSE, through its Occupational Guidance Service, works with schools, service providers, service users and families to identify the needs of young people with disabilities who are due to complete their second level education. The aim is to address the needs of individuals in the following ways:

- Health-funded rehabilitative (life skills) training (RT);

- Health-funded day services;

- FÁS-funded vocational training;

- Approval to extend education placement for a specified time.

The demand for services for school-leavers continues to grow. In 2012, almost 700 school-leavers required RT places or day services and the position in 2013 is expected to be similar. While the HSE makes every effort to provide day services or RT places to school-leavers with special needs, this has always been dependant on the availability and location of appropriate places coupled with the needs of the individual school-leaver. The HSE is currently reviewing the outcomes for 2012 school-leavers in terms of placements achieved and scoping out the likely requirements for 2013. I wish to acknowledge the work of the HSE and the voluntary service providers in meeting the considerable challenges placed on them last year by finding places for the vast majority of school-leavers without additional funding. I am pleased to confirm however that, although the 2013 allocation for disability services has been reduced by 1.2%, the HSE National Service Plan includes an additional €4m to provide training places and day services for school-leavers in 2013. Both the voluntary sector and the HSE are committed to the best use of this funding in a creative and flexible manner so as to secure as many places as possible within the available resources although this will continue to be a challenge in the current environment.

Photo of Seán Ó FearghaílSeán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Health the way the recommendations of the Congregate Settings and the New Directions Reports are to be implemented in a sector that is already decimated by unprecedented budgetary restriction and the implications for those persons at the heart of the reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1237/13]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In recent years disability service provision has been moving towards a community based and inclusive model rather one which is institutional and segregated. The key lessons from the Report of the Working Group on Congregated Settings (2011) and New Directions, the Report of the National Working Group for the Review of HSE-funded Adult Day Services (2012), together with the Value for Money and Policy Review of Disability Services in Ireland (2012), will provide a catalyst for achieving a more effective, person centered disability service, in line with international best practice. The implementation of these reports will be progressed though the HSE’s National Disability Governance Group and through the National Consultative Forum in 2013. It should be borne in mind that the radical change recommended in the reports is not the sole responsibility of the Health Sector but rather, a collaborative responsibility shared between the person, their families and carers, a multiplicity of agencies, Government and society as a whole.

The Report of the Working Group on Congregated Settings (July 2011), sets out a framework to guide the transfer of identified individuals from congregated settings to live in the community. A HSE-led National implementation Group is developing a national plan and change programme to progress the recommendations of the Congregated Settings Report and transfer the 3,600 people with disabilities who live in these settings into the community over the next 7 years. In July 2012 the Department of Health and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Affairs jointly published the National Implementation Framework to support the Government's National Housing Strategy for People with Disability 2011 to 2016 . As part of this process €1m has been transferred from the Health Vote to the Housing Vote to provide for the social housing costs of up to 150 people leaving institutions in 2013.

A National Implementation Working Group has also been established by the HSE to oversee the implementation of the recommendations in New Directions. The report proposes that day services in the future take the form of a menu of 12 individualised, outcome-focused supports which will provide adults with disabilities with the support necessary to live a life of their choosing in accordance with their own wishes, aspirations and needs. The guiding principle for the future is that supports will be tailored to individual need and will be flexible, responsive and person-centred. During 2013 the HSE will manage and direct the migration towards a person-centred model of services and supports, through demonstration projects initiated by service providers as proof of concept, which will run in parallel with current services. Their suitability for wider application will then be evaluated.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.