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Disability Support Services Issues

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2013

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Questions (550)

Róisín Shortall

Question:

550. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health his plans to introduce financial autonomy for persons with an intellectual disability in order that they may select a care setting or service provider of their choice rather than being tied into their local service provider; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29136/13]

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Written answers

The Report of the Value for Money (VFM) and Policy Review of the Disability Services Programme recommends a significant restructuring of the Disability Services Programme through migration from an approach which is predominantly organised around group-based service delivery, towards a model of person-centred, individually chosen supports, underpinned by a system of individualised budgeting; and implementation of a more effective method of assessing need, allocating resources and monitoring resource use.

Individualised budgeting is an umbrella term that may take many forms. It may encompass the determination of resource allocation to agencies based on assessed client need and actual costs, a ‘money follows the client’ model, a brokerage system or a personal budget model administered by the individual service user. With individualised budgeting, the main transfer to the service user is the transfer of choice and control over funding decisions, including decisions on preferred care settings and service providers. Both the HSE and disability agencies are already working on demonstration projects aimed at giving service users greater choice and control, particularly in the context of facilitating people to move from congregated residential centres to community settings.

The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive will pursue the issue of individualised budgeting in the context of the implementation of the recommendations contained in the VFM Report. The priority is to further improve current services, while expediting the analysis of the benefits to be gained from newer models of individualised supports through demonstration projects which will be evaluated for wider applicability. The balance and emphasis will shift firmly and comprehensively towards these new models of individualised supports once sufficient analysis of the benefits is carried out in the Irish context.

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