I thank Deputy Bruton for raising this vital question. As I said in my earlier contribution, one of my key priorities is finding a model that actually works. Let us have one list so that when a child reaches early years education or school and needs an assessment, it is done in a timely way and an intervention can be accessed. The intervention should follow all the way through. Children should not age into and then age out of the catchment of early years intervention without ever accessing a service. That is what I hope to achieve. The €7.8 million package was intended to form a basis for timely intervention.
A pilot scheme was set up in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 as part of the school inclusion model, which envisages the provision of a certain number of therapists. That proved very successful. The pilot was not completed because of the Covid-19 pandemic but funding has been secured by the Department of Education to ensure that therapists are part of the education system. When children are diagnosed and given therapy and a further follow-up is needed, services can continue until all therapy has been completed. No child would end up on a list.
The network disability teams have been reconfigured under the HSE. Some 91 of these teams will be geographically spread throughout the country. They will be fully populated. As of my most recent information, only seven team lead positions remained to be filled. A lot of reconfiguration is going on to put speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and physiotherapy services in place.
The model is coming together really well. We now have the opportunity to work through the school inclusion model. The network disability teams and the school and modular teams can work together so children can get the intervention they need in the appropriate setting and no appointments are missed. This is all about intervention. A new model is in place to allow for collaboration between education and disability services.
