The Government is fully committed to protecting front-line services, including services for children with disabilities, to the greatest extent possible, notwithstanding the financial constraints within which the health sector must operate. Significant resources have been invested by the health sector in recent years in services for children with disabilities. In particular, there is now an increased awareness of the importance of early intervention for these children in terms of ensuring they get the best start in life and are supported as much as possible to reach their full potential.
My Department co-operates on a regular basis with the both Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills on issues of mutual interest and concern pertaining to children with disabilities, including autism. This cross-cutting engagement on children with disabilities issues is being facilitated by a dedicated Unit that has been established in the Department of Health.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Health Service Executive has operational responsibility for the provision of health and personal social services, including disability services for children. Within this context, it has a responsibility to ensure that the health-related needs of children with special needs are addressed and that these children are appropriately supported in pre-school and school settings. This is done in a number of ways such as by providing grant-aid to support pre-school provision in community pre-schools and by funding special pre-schools that cater specifically for children with disabilities. It also facilitates children with special needs to attend mainstream pre-school by providing the necessary assistant supports. The HSE’s role in supporting children with special needs involves it working in close co-operation with the disability service providers that it funds, with the education sector and with the parents and families of the children in question.
With regard to the HSE's Speech and Language Therapy Service, I understand that each individual that presents to the Service has an initial assessment to determine their individual need for therapy. The therapist, in conjunction with the parent(s) or carer, will determine the severity of the individual’s difficulties and prioritise for therapy accordingly. The level of intervention is in line with clinic policy, age and severity of the diagnosis. The waiting period for intervention is dependent on the nature and severity of the disorder following assessment.
The HSE aims to ensure that the resources available are used to best effect, in order to provide assessment and ongoing therapy to children and adults in line with their prioritised needs. Along with the significant investment in area of speech and language therapists employed in recent years, a range of new approaches have been developed and used in many Speech and Language Therapy services across the country. These include providing structures, training and support to parents-carers so that they can work to help improve the individual’s speech and language. In addition, therapy is delivered in group settings where appropriate. The HSE has stated that it is committed to working in partnership with other service providers to achieve maximum benefits for children and adults with speech and language therapy requirements, and aims to ensure that, the speech and language therapy resources available are used in the most effective manner possible.
My Department has asked the HSE to look at the specific operational service issue of waiting times for therapeutic input at the Wellmount Heathcare facility and to respond directly to the Deputy on the matter.
