Bernard Allen
Question:136 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will sanction the appointment of a speech and language therapist to St. Patrick's infants national school, Gardiner's Hill, Cork. [10083/01]
Written Answers. - Speech Therapy Service.
The provision of services to persons with an intellectual disability in the Cork region is the responsibility of the Southern Health Board in the first instance. Therefore, I have forwarded your inquiry to the chief executive of the board for attention and direct reply. While significant additional resources have been made available to the health boards in recent years to enhance the level of health related support services available to children with disabilities, the boards and other service providers have been encountering difficulties in both recruiting and retaining the allied health professionals necessary to deliver the various therapy services.
In acknowledgement of these difficulties, my Department has asked the authority and the health boards to explore other possibilities with a view to facilitating as many children as possible to access the necessary support services. This might include the purchase of additional sessions which may result in either the maintenance of the existing levels of service provision or an enhancement in line with agreed service developments, using the resources which have been allocated for these services. It is a matter for each health board and the Eastern Regional Health Authority to determine what additional measures the service in their region might undertake to facilitate this access.
I have just received the report that I commissioned from Dr. Peter Bacon and associates in relation to workforce planning for speech and language therapy. I am currently considering its implications and will shortly be in a position to announce developments in this area.
Another measure which has been taken to assist parents in this area is section 8 of the Finance Act, 2001, which amends section 469 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, to extend tax relief for medical expenses to cover the cost of educational psychological assessment and speech and language therapy services for children.
Question No. 137 answered with Question No. 91.