Health boards have over the years provided a level of support, either directly or through specialist voluntary agencies, for children with disabilities. These services include diagnosis, assessment, pre-school and out-reach support for children of school going age. However in recent years there has been both an increased demand for such services and an expanding range of educational placements.
Between 1998 and 2000 additional funding amounting to £5 million, 6.35 euro, was allocated specifically to enhance the level of health related support services available to children with autism. A further £3.5 million, 4.44 euro, was allocated this year for these services for both children with an intellectual disability and those with autism. In addition to this ringfenced funding, children with disabilities would also have benefited from the additional therapy posts which have been put in place in services for persons with physical or sensory disabilities.
Many health boards and specialist service providers have been experiencing difficulties in recruiting allied health professionals and specifically speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists. This is due primarily to the general shortage of available staff in these grades nationally. Health boards and agencies have been and are continuing to undertake intensive recruitment drives both at home and abroad. My Department has also asked the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority to explore other approaches which might result in the maintenance of an existing level of service provision or an enhancement in line with agreed service developments using the resources allocated to the services.
In response to my concern regarding current severe labour shortages affecting the therapy professions nationwide, my Department commissioned a report from Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates on current and future supply and demand conditions in the labour market for certain professional therapists. The study, a comprehensive assessment of workforce requirement for qualified personnel in these areas to 2015, was published on 25 July last.
The report concludes that a major expansion is essential in the numbers of therapy professionals over the next 15 years. This will require a significant increase in training places with a recommended annual increase of 75 course places each for speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. Other key recommendations of the report includes – provision of sufficient clinical placements within the health service through the establishment of a national network of clinical placement co-ordinators; need for fast-track qualification and review of the existing training system; concerted recruitment from overseas; establishment of the planned system of statutory registration consistent with the requirement for a patient-centred health service; career structure, workload, working practices and skill mix issues encompassed in the context of the report of the expert group on various health professionals, published April 2000.
