Written Answers Nos. 349-368
349. Deputy Francis Noel Duffy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the measures being taken to alleviate the high rates of vacancy across children's disability services, which is affecting the role of the children's disability network teams. [18777/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
350. Deputy Imelda Munster asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children awaiting an assessment of need per county in the CHO8; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18792/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
351. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to provide an enhanced package of resources to foster carers; if he and or his officials have undertaken an analysis of current supports; and if he will outline the way in which foster carers can access additional resources if required in the short and medium term. [18812/23]
View answerFoster carers are paid a weekly allowance, which is a payment to meet the needs of the child in their care. The foster care allowance is currently €325 per week for a child under 12 years of age and €352 per week for a child aged 12 years and over. The allowance is not considered as means for social welfare purposes, and is not subject to tax.
The foster care allowance is one element of the support that Tusla provides to carers when they offer a home and care to children some of whom may have additional, and sometimes significant, needs. If required, Tusla can also provide financial supports to foster carers through either additional or enhanced payments.
Additional payments refers to any payment made to a foster carer that exceeds the standard rate of the fostering allowance. Such additional payments may be made in respect of children or young people who have additional needs that are not covered by the standardised fostering allowance. Tusla have advised that additional payments can only be made where a child has additional medical or educational needs and when authorisation has been received from the Tusla Area Manager.
Enhanced allowances for foster carers can be made when a longer term financial need is identified for additional supports for the child. A maximum of twice the weekly allowance may be paid in respect of children aged between 0-18 years if they require significant care over and above the needs of other children in foster care. This includes children who have been diagnosed with significant special needs and require a high level of personal care and supervision. The purpose of considering an enhanced allowance in these cases is to support foster carers in providing care to these children who have additional needs.
I am conscious of the disappointment expressed by foster carers that no increase to the foster care allowance was granted in Budget 2023. A priority of mine going forward therefore will be to secure an increase to the foster care allowance in Budget 2024.
The Deputy may also be aware that travel costs have also been highlighted by foster carers as an increasingly significant financial outlay in respect of the care they provide to foster children. I can inform the Deputy that this is an issue on which I am currently engaging with Tusla.
Additionally, the Deputy may also be aware that last year Tusla published their Strategic Plan for Foster Care Services for Children and Young People 2022-2025. Contained within this Plan is a commitment by Tusla to pilot a model in each region to put in place peer support for foster carers, which I welcome.
I also welcome the commitment contained within the Plan outlining Tusla’s intention to review the model of respite for children and young people in foster care, including ‘respite networks’, with the aim of establishing networks of foster carers to provide respite support to each other.
I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to work with Tusla, with my Government colleagues, and with any other relevant stakeholders going forward, seeking to review and improve the suite of supports available to foster carers.
352. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when an accommodation provider (details supplied) for Ukrainian refugees who is experiencing financial difficulties will receive payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18822/23]
View answerMy Department is prioritising maintaining a practice of more timely payments, including providing more resources to address any issues. Any delays in making payments are deeply regretted and my Department is according this issue very high priority.
With regard to the service provider mentioned in the details supplied, my officials are engaging with the provider regarding these invoices and on the successful conclusion of this engagement, the invoices will be processed, with payment expected to issue shortly thereafter.
The delay in payment is due to the large volume of invoices being received by my Department. Additional resources have been assigned within my Department as well as process improvements and the outsourcing of some elements of the process. The volume of payments issuing is steadily growing. My Department will continue to press on to eliminate the backlog while ensuring appropriate governance is in place to safeguard the proper spending of Exchequer funding.
353. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Health what steps his Department has taken to ensure current first- and second-year educational psychology students will receive financial support, given the substantial course fees and the quantity of unpaid work in the HSE, CAMHS, primary care and NEPS sector (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18800/23]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, €750,000 has been provided in Budget 2023 to support counselling psychology training places. This funding demonstrates the Government’s commitment to strengthen access to psychology training.
I am focussed on supporting counselling psychology students in an equitable way and that delivers value for money. The structure of this funding is currently being finalised by officials in the Department. The approach will be based on best practice and knowledge gained from other health and social care funded training models.
Further detailed discussions are now taking place between the Department and HSE to progress this. I hope to be in a position to announce the details shortly for academic year 2023-2024.
In relation to the question raised, the Deputy may wish to seek the view of the Minister for Education as regards funding opportunities for educational psychologists.
354. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health his plans to provide financial supports to trainee educational psychologists; and his rationale for not providing supports at this time. [18823/23]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, €750,000 has been provided in Budget 2023 to support counselling psychology training places. This funding demonstrates the Government’s commitment to strengthen access to psychology training.
I am focussed on supporting counselling psychology students in an equitable way and that delivers value for money. The structure of this funding is currently being finalised by officials in the Department. The approach will be based on best practice and knowledge gained from other health and social care funded training models.
Further detailed discussions are now taking place between the Department and HSE to progress this. I hope to be in a position to announce the details shortly for academic year 2023-2024.
355. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the services for speech and language therapy; the current waiting list figures for this service; if he will provide an update on the recruitment of personnel to help with these long waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15711/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
356. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the services for occupational therapy; the current waiting list figures for this service; if he will provide an update on the recruitment of personnel to help with these long waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15712/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
357. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health the treatment available in Ireland to a patient who is suffering from stage four oesophageal cancer which has spread; if no treatment is available, what options are available to the patient to have treatment outside of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18620/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
358. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health if there are plans to increase capacity for adult inpatient eating disorder beds; how many beds are proposed; where they will be available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18621/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
359. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Health the plans to improve therapeutic and other services, and access to services, for under-18s with a diagnosis of ADHD; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15101/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
360. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if he will clarify as to the new procedures that have been put in place to expedite the process for the development and the building for the new elective hospital for Cork; if he can provide a timeframe as to when his Department will allow the project to proceed to planning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10401/23]
View answerThe Programme to develop new Elective Hospitals in Cork, Galway and Dublin is progressing in line with the Public Spending Code (PSC), which is designed to ensure that capital investment decisions are underpinned by a clear policy rationale, and that costs are well understood.
In 2019, the PSC was updated and introduced a new project life cycle, tightening the arrangements for project decision-making, and clarifying the roles of the parties involved including the responsibilities for Sponsoring Agencies and Approving Authorities. On 29 March 2023, further changes were made to the Public Spending Code by means of Circular 06/2023 from D/PENDPDR. The purpose of the PSC review was to clarify the roles and responsibilities of key actors within the Public Spending Code and to streamline the process to best match the realities of project development. The Department and the HSE are reflecting on how best to align major capital proposals with the new PSC life cycle and further ‘Infrastructure Guidelines’ will be issued by DPENDPDR in the near future.
I have asked the HSE, as Sponsoring Agency with day-to-day responsibility for the delivery of the new Elective Hospital in Cork, to respond to you directly in relation to the matters raised.
361. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health what steps have been taken to end the practice of children being admitted to adult psychiatric inpatient wards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15776/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
362. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Health to increase the hours allocated to a person (details supplied) as soon as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18629/23]
View answerAs this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
363. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the number of persons employed in July 2020, 2021, and 2022 in community psychiatry, community psychology and community CAMHS areas in County Cork by area; and the positions recruited since January 2023 in County Cork in these sectors. [18644/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
364. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the current waiting list for CAMHS services in County Cork by area; the average waiting time; and his plans to address this. [18645/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
365. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health the number of young people on the CAMHS waiting list in Cork city for less than 3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, 12-18, 18-24 and for over 24 months, in tabular form. [18646/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.
366. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Health if there are financial supports available to those with limited mobility and wish to purchase a motorised scooter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18657/23]
View answerThe Health Service Executive (HSE) provides a wide range of medical and surgical aids and appliances free of charge under the Community Funded Schemes to eligible patients (such as those with medical cards or those on the Long-Term Illness scheme) following assessment by a relevant health professional. Provision is based on an appropriate clinical assessment, the funding available within local budgets, and a determination of the most appropriate product that will meet the eligible person’s needs.
The HSE provides aids and appliances to a wide section of the community including older people, people with diverse chronic illnesses, and people with disabilities. Mobility scooters are among the many products provided.
In accordance with the provisions of the Health Act 1970 (as amended), eligibility for a medical card is determined by the HSE and is primarily based on an assessment of means and is not granted on the basis of any particular condition. In certain circumstances, the HSE may exercise discretion and grant a medical card, even though an applicant exceeds the income guidelines, where he or she faces difficult financial circumstances, such as extra costs arising from illness.
The Long-Term Illness (LTI) scheme was established under Section 59(3) of the Health Act 1970 (as amended). Regulations specified 16 illnesses covered by the scheme. Under the LTI scheme, patients receive drugs, medicines, and medical and surgical appliances directly related to the treatment of their illness, free of charge.
367. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Health the reason he does not attend the PNA conference (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18661/23]
View answerFirstly, I would like to commend the important role of all Psychiatric Nurses in our country. They provide essential care to those in need.
I have a very full schedule and unfortunately I am not in a position to accept every invitation I receive each year. Due to travel commitments at the time of the PNA conference, I was unable to attend.
The conference was attended by the Chief Nursing Officer, along with other Department officials.
368. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Health how many home care beds have been delivered by the HSE in each CHO area in 2022, in tabular form. [18667/23]
View answerAs this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
