Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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230. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to implement the recommendations from the report, the Respite Services for Children with Life-Limiting Conditions and their Families in Ireland, a National Needs Assessment, on palliative care for children; and if so, if he will outline his implementation plan. [20587/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The National Development Committee for Children’s Palliative Care, jointly chaired by the HSE and the Irish Hospice Foundation, agreed that an assessment should be undertaken in HSE South and HSE West to complete the national picture following an earlier exercise in two HSE regions (HSE Dublin North East and Dublin Mid-Leinster) which examined respite care for children with life-limiting conditions.

The Irish Hospice Foundation and LauraLynn, Ireland’s Children’s Hospice, in partnership with the HSE, on 4 March published the report to provide this national overview of service provision and future respite requirements as part of a palliative care service for children in Ireland.

The report identifies some of the challenges involved in planning for respite care such as difficulties with definitions and terminology; determining the numbers of children who require respite care and the numbers currently availing of services; the extent and location of current service provision; the perhaps at times unnecessary distinction between disability services and palliative care.

The report provides an indication of what is currently available and what is required at a national level to provide for the respite needs of children and families. The report acknowledges that a significant level of respite support is already being provided but access is inconsistent around the country and can be dependent on diagnosis and/or geographic location. Most families prefer to be able to care for their child at home. In order to be able to do so adequate support systems need to be in place and this includes the availability of a high standard of respite care both in the child’s home and also out-of-home in an appropriate residential setting / respite unit.

The report will assist the Department of Health and the National Development Committee in planning for the respite needs of children with life-limiting conditions, and is a useful contribution to filling in the gaps in the understanding and knowledge of the way respite services for children are organised.

The National Development Committee for Children’s Palliative Care will undertake to respond to these recommendations through its ongoing programme of work .