Services for People with Disabilities

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 May 2010

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Ceisteanna (69)

David Stanton

Ceist:

84 Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 476 of 19 January 2010, the result of the discussions between her Department and the Health Service Executive in relation to meeting the information gathering and administrative requirements of the Disability Act, in particular section 13(2) which relates to the reporting on the aggregate unmet needs of the children assessed under the Act; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20224/10]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Deputy John Moloney)

Discussions are continuing between officials of my Department and the HSE in order to identify the most suitable information gathering arrangements to meet the needs of individual children defined in terms of desired outcomes, to meet the administrative obligations imposed by the Act and also to ensure that reliable service planning data is collected.

The challenges involved in complying with the requirements of section 13 of the Act in relation to information gathering and reporting on aggregate need have been set out in reply to Parliamentary Question No 476.

The Department's focus in these discussions is to ensure that, while complying with the requirements of the Act, as few clinical resources as possible are diverted from direct interventions with children to information gathering.