Written answers

Thursday, 6 February 2014

Department of Health

Speech and Language Therapy

Photo of Billy TimminsBilly Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
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179. To ask the Minister for Health the policy in relation to allocating speech therapy assistance to primary school students; and if the IQ level of the student has any impact on this policy. [5905/14]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Health related supports and interventions for children who are of primary school age can be accessed through HSE Primary Care Teams and HSE Disability Services. The HSE’s National Service Plan 2013 provided for additional funding of €20m to strengthen primary care services (€18.525m for the recruitment of 264.5 primary care team posts and €1.475m to support Community Intervention Team development). Of the additional 264.5 posts allocated, 47 whole-time equivalent Speech and Language Therapy posts were approved. The recruitment process is ongoing in relation to these posts, with the majority of the posts filled or offered with start dates to be agreed. The HSE is striving to have the remainder of the posts filled as soon as possible in 2014.

I understand that each individual presenting to the HSE's speech and language service has an initial assessment to determine their individual need for therapy. The therapist, in conjunction with the parent(s) or carer, will determine the severity of the individual’s difficulties and prioritise for therapy accordingly. The level of intervention is in line with clinic policy, age and severity of the diagnosis. The waiting period for intervention is dependent on the nature and severity of the disorder following assessment. In an effort to address the issue of waiting lists and ensure that services are delivered in as equitable a manner as possible within available resources, the HSE has introduced a number of initiatives such as therapists increasing clinic based work instead of domiciliary work and providing family centred interventions in a group as opposed to a one-to-one setting, whenever possible.

In the longer term, the reconfiguration of children’s disability services into geographically-based early-intervention and school-aged teams as part of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme will ensure an equitable delivery of services. The purpose of the reconfiguration of existing therapy resources is to ensure that the resources available are used to best effect, in order to provide health supports and ongoing therapy to all children (0-18 years) in line with their prioritised needs. In particular, it will mean that all children, regardless of where they receive their education services will have equitable access to services based on their needs.

The 2014 budget for Disability Services is being maintained broadly in line with 2013, with targeted investment of €14m for a number of developments, including the roll out of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18) Programme, which will entail the provision of 80 additional therapy posts, to increase services for children with all disabilities. A proportion of these will be Speech and Language Therapy posts.

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