Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Jul 1996

Vol. 468 No. 4

Written Answers. - Disabled Children.

Éamon Ó Cuív

Ceist:

166 Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health whether there is any code of practice establishing the rights of parents of severely mentally and physically disabled children and young adults to respite breaks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15338/96]

Éamon Ó Cuív

Ceist:

167 Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Health the provision, if any, made by his Department, through the health boards, for the provision of respite breaks to the parents of severely mentally and physically disabled children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15339/96]

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Mr. O'Shea)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.

There is no formal code of practice in relation to the right to respite care. However, the provision of respite care and home support services are an integral part of service provision to people with a mental handicap and people with physical disabilities. Both statutory and voluntary service providers use the facilities available to them to provide access to various respite services for as many clients as possible.

Respite services are provided in a variety of ways; for example, through the use of dedicated respite beds, residential places vacated by residents returning to their families at weekends and the use of other residential places as and when available. As such it is not possible to identify separately in the annual allocations for services to persons with a mental handicap-physical disability the amounts which relate solely to respite care.

Responsibility for the respite care scheme was transferred from the Department of Social Welfare to my Department at the start of 1995. Funding of £500,000 was made available in each of the years 1995 and 1996 to provide grants to agencies and organisations to provide respite care. This scheme is administered through the health boards.

Services for Persons with a Mental Handicap

From 1990 to date additional funding, as outlined below, has been provided to put in place an enhanced level of respite care services for persons with a mental handicap;

1990	—	While additional funding of £2 million was provided in 1990, it is not possible to separately identify the element of respite care which was provided from this funding.
1991	—	Once-off funding amounting to £710,000 was made available for the provision of additional respite places in each health board region.
1992	—	Funding of £590,000 was made available for the provision of 37.5 respite places throughout the various health board regions.
1993	—	Funding of £1,530,000 was made available for the provision of 90 emergency-residential-respite places throughout the various health board regions.
1994	—	Funding of £720,000 was made available for the provision of 39 respite places throughout the various health board regions.
1995	—	Funding of around £750,000 was made available for the provision of over 40 respite places throughout the various health board regions. Some element of home support services is also included in these costs.
1996	—	Funding of £1.25 million has been made available for the provision of 66 residential-respite places throughout the various health board regions

In addition to the above, the home support services have been developed substantially since they were first initiated in 1992.

Services for Persons with a Physical Handicap

The additional cumulative allocation of £6 million made available over the last four years for the development of services for persons with physical disabilities has allowed improvements to be made to respite services. Since 1993 an additional £226,000 revenue and £216,000 capital funding has been allocated specifically for the development of respite care. Information on the exact provision of respite places is not readily available as this service is provided in a flexible manner by the voluntary and statutory agencies involved in this area of service provision.