Written Answers - Autism Services.
James McDaid
Ceist:
13
Dr. McDaid
asked the
Minister for Health
if he will provide funding to cater for people with autism rather than have them treated in psychiatric hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the current situation regarding autism.
[11998/97]
Limerick East): My Department, in conjunction with the health boards and voluntary organisations, have been engaged in a programme to transfer persons with a mental handicap, including those with autism, from psychiatric hospitals and other unsuitable placements to more appropriate care settings. It has been the policy of my Department for some 15 years that persons with a mental handicap should not be admitted to psychiatric hospitals unless they have an underlying psychiatric disorder which cannot be appropriately treated elsewhere.
The majority of persons with autism are in receipt of services within the mental handicap services including multi-disciplinary support services, residential, respite and day services and home support services. However, a minority require specialised facilities. Specific services for persons with autism are available in the Eastern, North-Eastern, Southern and Western Health Boards which provide between 128 and 130 residential places overall. Planning for the development of further specialist facilities as outlined in my Department's Policy Document on Services to Persons with Autism which was published in 1994, is being included by the health boards in their overall consideration of the needs of persons with a mental handicap and autism in their regions.
Additional funding amounting to £225,000 in 1994 and £300,000 in 1995 was made available for the development of services to persons with autism in line with my Department's policy document.Some of the additional funding provided in 1997 for the overall development of services to persons with a mental handicap is also being used to further enhance services to persons with autism in line with the recommendations outlined in my Department's policy document.
Details of the precise services to be put in place in each health board region are agreed by the regional mental handicap co-ordinating committees in line with the priority needs which have been identified for each region. The committees are representative of the health boards, the voluntary service providers and parents and families of persons with a mental handicap in each board area.
Recently an Assessment of Need for Services to Persons with a Mental Handicap, 1997-2001 was published. The assessment provides a comprehensive picture of the requirements for additional residental and day services for persons with a mental handicap, including those with autism, over the period concerned. The Government is committed, under Partnership 2000 for Inclusion, Employment and Competitiveness, to the development of services to persons with a mental handicap, within overall resource parameters, based on this assessment of need.
