Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 1 Jul 2010

Vol. 203 No. 13

Health Services

Senator John Paul Phelan

I welcome the Minister of State. Most of my Adjournment matters tend to revolve around education matters. As I always do at the start of an Adjournment debate and while I have no problem with the Minister of State being in attendance, I suggest that a Minister from the relevant Department should be present. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy White, will be well able to answer my question.

During the last school year, St. Joseph's school on Parnell Street in Waterford had approximately 86 students on its roll, 40 of whom required speech and language therapy. They are faced with an appalling situation. Since May 2009, the school has had no speech and language therapist. It is designed to cater for children experiencing speech and language difficulties. That half of the school's students have not had a speech and language therapist available to them for more than 12 months despite needing this service is a disgrace. The principal, Mr. Dermot Murray, has been in constant contact with the Department of Education and Skills throughout the period to try to reach a resolution whereby this facility would be restored, but none of his correspondence has been successful. Representatives from County Waterford in the Lower House have asked questions, but this school takes in students from the east of the county, Waterford city, south County Kilkenny and parts of counties Wexford and south Tipperary. The area is large.

I understand that the person who held the position is on illness leave and has not been replaced. The Department's letters to the principal go to varying lengths to explain that efforts are being made to appoint someone to the position. Whatever efforts have been made, none has been successful. It has been speculated that one of the possible solutions being considered is to have the position taken by a speech and language therapist from outside the school. In this way, parents would need to take their children from the school to visit the therapist. Crucially, there would be no interaction between the teachers and the therapist. This solution would not be good enough. Given the students' difficulties, daily contact between the teaching staff and the person filling the role is essential to ensure students are progressing in their therapies.

The situation is not the Minister of State's fault, but this is time that the affected primary schoolchildren will not get back. We all know the value of early intervention and support for people with particular education requirements and the knock-on benefits for the country such intervention can have. The school's situation is not acceptable and I hope the Minister of State will have some positive news about a resolution to the difficulty. It is wrong and unjustifiable that more than a year has passed since this facility was available to the school's students.

Deputy Mary Alexandra White

As Senator Phelan rightly stated, I will take this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children. I thank the Senator for raising this matter and I am pleased to take the opportunity to outline the position in respect of the provision of speech and language therapy at St. Joseph's school in Waterford. I know the school, as I attended school in Waterford.

The HSE has advised the Minister that the speech and language therapy service for the school has been provided directly as a school-based intervention programme for several years. The service caters for all children currently identified as requiring intervention varying from high priority direct intervention to low priority-review with school support intervention programmes. The service was suspended in 2009 due to staffing issues. However, school support intervention programmes have continued and a speech and language therapy service to a limited number of children has been offered within existing staffing resources. The HSE has advised the Department of Health and Children that it has been endeavouring to address the issue and is progressing to a revised approach over the coming months to develop a structure of integrated therapy to schools in the Waterford area. St. Joseph's school will be considered within this primary care development.

Depending on the child's needs, it is likely that therapy provision could be delivered through continuing therapy in community-based clinics or, where appropriate, in a school-based therapy programme. Service continuity can be affected by staffing issues, including resignations, maternity leaves, career breaks, and so on. However, the maintenance and development of speech and language therapy services remain a priority for the HSE locally, with three new additional posts established in the past two years in primary care, disability services and child psychiatry.

Children who meet the criteria for other specialist HSE services will continue to receive their interventions through multidisciplinary teams, including early Intervention for all children under six years; autism spectrum disorders, where the intervention of the ASD team is indicated; child and adolescent mental health service team, following diagnosis of mental health disorder; and the Central Remedial Clinic service in Waterford, where children present with primary physical disability and continued multidisciplinary team intervention is recommended.

The Government remains committed to the long-term goals and objectives of the national disability strategy. Our commitment in the area of disability has been consistent. Overall, approximately €1.6 billion is spent annually by the health service on specialist health and personal social services and supports for people with a disability. Despite the current economic climate, the HSE's national service plan for 2010 provides for additional funding of €19.5 million to meet the anticipated growth in demand for disability services in 2010.

Senator John Paul Phelan

It seems from what the Minister of State has just said that the HSE is going down the route of having the therapist outside the school. I want the Minister of State, if she can, to just relay the views of the school, and mine, as well as those of many representatives to the effect that this is not acceptable. It is essential that there is complete contact between the teaching staff and whoever fulfils this role, if it is to be done properly. While it might be in the remit of the HSE and it might argue that it is a priority that speech and language therapy services should remain available, its actions in this instance indicate that this is far from being a priority in the case of this school and the students concerned.

This is not a question, but I should like if the Minister of State could relay the sentiments to the effect that what is being proposed here is not deemed to be acceptable by the people concerned.