Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 May 2003

Vol. 566 No. 1

Written Answers. - Speech Therapy Service.

Paudge Connolly

Question:

86 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Health and Children if sufficient speech and language therapists will be allocated to specialist language units and classes in order that this essential service is made available to all children with severe articulation difficulties and speech and language disorders. [11620/03]

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. T. O'Malley)

The provision of health related services, including speech and language therapy, to people with physical and/or sensory disabilities is a matter for the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the health boards in the first instance. However, I understand that all health boards are experiencing difficulties in the recruitment of therapy posts and particularly in filling senior vacancies.

Furthermore, I wish to advise the Deputy that 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.

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 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 currently available and it is expected that 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: 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; 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 in 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.