Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 April 2014
248. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health of the proposed additional 30 early intervention teams to be reconfigured this year for children with special educational needs requiring assessments by speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and other professionals; where and when these new reconfigured teams will be put in place. [15784/14]
View answer249. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health when an early intervention team will be put in place for the Dublin region, particularly in north Dublin; and the number of staff that will be working under this team or teams. [15785/14]
View answer250. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health the actions that will be taken to assess children with special educational needs, including speech difficulties, who have been subject to lengthy delays in receiving assessments by early intervention teams due to the absence of such teams in some areas, including Dublin; and if there will be additional personnel employed in the medium term to deal with the backlog of children requiring early intervention assessments. [15786/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 248 to 250, inclusive, together.
The HSE has recognised the need to increase the level of consistency and standardisation in the way services for children with disabilities are delivered. It is currently engaged in a reconfiguration of existing therapy resources to multidisciplinary geographic based teams for children as part of the National Programme on Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18 years).
The aim of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme is to achieve a national, unified approach to delivering disability health services so that there is a clear pathway to services for all children, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their disability. An additional €4m has been specifically allocated in 2014 to drive implementation of the Programme. This equates to approximately 80 therapy posts.
Almost 60 geographic-based multi-disciplinary teams have been established to date under the Programme as part of the reconfigured service model. It is hoped that a further 30 teams will be reconfigured this year, bringing the overall total to approximately 90 teams by the end of 2014. These figures reflect all children's disability teams that provide early intervention and school age services to children aged up to eighteen years. The transition to this new model is taking place on a phased basis and, importantly, includes consultation and engagement with stakeholders, such as service users and their families.
My Department has asked the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy in respect of the specific detailed operational issues that he has raised.
