Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 April 2014
581. Deputy Colm Keaveney asked the Minister for Health if he will provide a county breakdown for January 2014 of the number of children awaiting an initial assessment for speech and language therapies; and the numbers on open waiting lists in the following timeframes; 0 to four months; four to eight months; eight to 12 months; 12 to 18 months, 18 to 24 months; more than 24 months [16058/14]
View answerSpeech and language therapy for children can be accessed through both the Health Service Executive’s primary care services and its disability services.
The HSE's National Service Plan 2013 provided for additional funding of €20m to strengthen primary care services. This comprises over €18.5m for the recruitment of over 260 primary care team posts and over €1.4m to support community intervention team development. The posts include 52 whole-time equivalent speech and language therapists. The recruitment process is ongoing in relation to these posts, with the majority of the posts filled or offered, subject to start dates being agreed.
In terms of disability services, therapy services for children are currently being reconfigured into geographically-based multidisciplinary teams, as part of the HSE’s Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People (0-18years) Programme. The objective of this 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. The National Service Plan 2014 provides for targeted investment of €4m for the roll out of this Programme which equates to 80 additional therapy posts. The additional investment that is being made in both primary care and disability services and the re-configuration of children’s disability services into geographically-based multidisciplinary teams will have a positive impact on the provision of clinical services for all children requiring access to health related supports, including speech and language therapy.
My Department has asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy in relation to the specific detailed operational data that he has sought, insofar as it is available.
