Written answers

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

Department of Health

Services for People with Disabilities

Photo of Caoimhghín Ó CaoláinCaoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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331. To ask the Minister for Health if he is aware that 24 persons with special needs, who are due to transition to an adult service in 2016, applied for placements in Gheel services; that they are now left with nowhere to go, as the Health Service Executive will not provide Gheel with the appropriate funds to run the service; his views that this is acceptable; his plans to ensure that these persons are properly looked after; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35752/15]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Government policy is to enable young people with disabilities to develop the skills they will need to live independent lives to the greatest extent possible, and to receive the supports they need in order to achieve this. Additional funding of €12 million, was allocated by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to meet the needs of around 1,400 young people who require continuing health-funded supports on leaving school or rehabilitative training this year, of which €6 million has been made available to provide services from September.

Finding the resources and the physical capacity to meet the needs of a growing number of new service users every year is a challenging task. When this year’s support requirements were identified, the cost of meeting those needs in full exceeded the amount available, therefore, an additional €1.5 million was added by the HSE to the overall allocation, making a total of €13.5 million full-year costs available to meet those needs. A further €1.5 million once-off capital funding was also allocated by the HSE for the provision of suitable buildings, premises and accommodation.

In January 2015, a National Project Group was established by the HSE to develop and oversee a national process to responding to the needs of these young people and to ensure a consistent approach is taken across the country to meeting those needs. This initially involved identifying all individuals who would require a day service in 2015. Once individuals were identified and their individualised needs were assessed, the capacity of the existing services to meet those needs was determined. It was not until this process was completed that the number, location and type of additional support needs and resources could be finalised.

The approach adopted by the National Project Group from the outset was that a cost banding structure would be developed to inform the allocation of the available funds. The costing bands were then applied to the identified need in each of the county’s nine regions so that a nationally consistent approach would be applied, which was needs-based as opposed to population-based. Based on this cost-band structure, five support levels were identified and the following amounts were allocated for new placements at each support level: intensive support (€34,000); high (€16,000); moderate (€11,000); low (€7,000) and minimum (€5,000). Most of the placements for those who had applied to attend Gheel Autism Services are in the intensive support category.

I understand from the HSE that most young people have been offered a placement from September which meets their needs. Only a small minority of placements remain to be finalised. In relation to the individuals that had applied to Gheel Autism Services, the HSE indicated that there would be an allocation of €708,000 made available to Gheel to provide the model of day service that they had developed and once off capital funding of €80,000. However, following extensive negotiations with Gheel, it was established that the placements for these individuals cannot be delivered by Gheel within this allocation. The HSE has initiated discussions with two alternative service providers who already provide quality day services to young people with autism and these providers have agreed to develop appropriate service responses for these young people.

Over the coming weeks the HSE will continue to actively work with these service providers and families until placements are finalised for all young people at this important transition point in their lives and they will ensure that resources available for specialist disability services are used in the most effective manner possible.

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