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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 28 Nov 2002

Vol. 558 No. 3

Written Answers. - Services for People with Disabilities.

Jack Wall

Question:

141 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that children are travelling 300 miles per week to a special school (details supplied) for speech therapy classes as well as other classes; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact these special classes were agreed by his Department and the Department of Education and Science and that the two classes of seven pupils each have no speech therapist; if his attention has further been drawn to the fact that this was the reason the classes were initiated, in view of the fact that in a previous reply he stated that speech therapists would only commence training in 2002; if his Department, with the Department of Education and Science, will provide funding to the board of management of the school to ensure that speech therapists from the private sector can be engaged for the short-term requirements of the present pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24164/02]

Jack Wall

Question:

145 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children if funding will be made available for the engagement of private sector speech therapists for a school (details supplied); if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the children are travelling 300 miles per week for these classes but his Department or the Department of Education has not supplied speech therapists for the classes; his plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24175/02]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 and 145 together.

The provision of health related services, including speech and language therapy, is a matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the health boards in the first instance. Accordingly, the Deputy's question has been referred to the chief executive officer of the Eastern Regional Health Authority with a request that he examine the matter and reply directly to the Deputy as a matter of urgency.
However, I understand that all health boards are experiencing difficulties in the recruitment of therapy professionals and particularly in filling senior vacancies. My Department commissioned a report on current and future supply and demand in the labour market for certain professional therapists from Dr. Peter Bacon and Associates. The Bacon report, which was published in July 2001, concluded that a major expansion is essential in the number of speech and language therapists requiring a very significant increase in training places to meet the long-term needs of the health service. The report therefore advocated an annual increase of 75 training places for speech and language therapy in order to achieve the recommended fourfold increase in the number of speech and language therapists over the next decade.
To advance this core recommendation of the report, an inter-agency working group, comprising officials from the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Education and Science and the Higher Education Authority, was established to seek proposals from third level institutions to ensure the rapid provision of the additional therapy training places. On 29 May 2002, the former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Michael Woods, announced the provision of 175 extra professional therapy training places for students to tackle the acute shortage of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists in the health service. This initiative almost doubles the number of therapy places available at present and it is expected the first intake to the extra places for speech and language therapy will commence in the 2003-04 academic year.
Other key recommendations of the report include: the provision of sufficient clinical placements within the health service through the establishment of a national network of clinical placement co-ordinators; the need for fast-track qualification and review of the existing training system; concerted recruitment from overseas; the establishment of the planned system of statutory registration consistent with the requirement for a patient-centred health service; and career structure, workload, working practices and skills-mix issues encompassed in the context of the report of the expert group on various health professions, published April 2000.
In addition to the Bacon report, I have asked the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the health boards 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. The Northern Area Health Board has also undertaken a concerted overseas recruitment drive for various allied health professionals, including speech and language therapists, on behalf of all health boards. Procedures are being streamlined to minimise the length of time taken to validate foreign qualifications consistent with the over-arching need to ensure that all therapists working in the health sector are appropriately trained and qualified.
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