John Gormley
Ceist:190 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Health and Children the provisions, if any, being made on a national level to provide services for autistic adults; and his views on whether the level of services are adequate. [6322/98]
Written Answers - Autism Services.
The majority of persons with autism avail of the generic mental handicap services, including assessment of diagnostic services, day, residential, respite and home support services, which have been substantially enhanced in recent years.
A minority of persons with autism do require specialised facilities. Additional specific services for persons with autism have been provided in the Eastern, North-Eastern, Southern and Western Health Boards which now 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. Since 1994 additional funding amounting to £1.025 million was made available for the development of services specifically for persons with autism in line with my Department's policy document.
I was pleased to be able to allocate additional funding of £16 million in 1998 for servcies to persons with a mental handicap to continue the process of delivering the services identified in the "Assessment of Need for Services to Persons with a Mental Handicap 1997-2001". This includes capital funding of £5.25 million to start the major £30 million capital programme which I have put in place to run over four years in tandem with the assessment of need.
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 Government is committed to the on-going development of these services as outlined in An Action Programme for the Millennium.