Lack of children’s respite centre a ‘red flag’ - Rabbitte

Minister shocked at week on, week off system

The Minister with responsibility for disabilities says she wants to see a dedicated children’s respite centre opened in Cavan.

On a visit to the region this week, Minister Anne Rabbitte was shocked at the gaps in service provision due to funding shortfalls or difficulties in securing staff.

Speaking to The Anglo-Celt, she described her visit to Cavan and Monaghan as “amazing” but said she is concerned particularly about the lack of adequate respite provision for children in the area.

“The biggest concern for me leaving here today is we’ve no full time children’s respite in the Cavan area. That’s a problem that needs to be addressed and I need to find out where that application is.

“We cannot leave a county without full time children’s respite. That’s a priority for me. That’s a red flag. I need to see children’s respite being addressed, that’s how you keep families together longer.”

Minister Rabbitte was visibly shocked when told children’s respite operates in a week on, week off system with adult services through the county’s only respite centre at Annalee House in Cootehill.

That centre reopened last year after an oil leak forced its closure for almost two years. After a long period with no respite services available they were relocated to separate premises.

Funding of €400,000 was provided last year towards the provision of a dedicated children’s respite centre for counties Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal. However, it’s understood it was nowhere near the total amount needed to provide the centre, with costs expected to be well in excess of that figure.

That centre had been expected to open early this year, based in Co Leitrim, following the €5.5 million national allocation from Minister Rabbitte’s office last July.

Vacant posts

Minister Rabbitte also heard eight staff roles within the Enable Ireland service in Rathcorrick outside Cavan Town, are vacant, with management finding it difficult to secure replacements.

Fully operational, the centre employs 22 staff. The number of primary care roles within the health service, which became available during the pandemic, proved a more attractive posting for many jobseekers within the sector.

The lack of staff is also having an impact on service provision within the local Enable Ireland service, with 127 children on its waiting list. Minister Rabbitte was told 627 children are listed with the centre but only 500 of these are having engagement with its services. The remainder are waiting to be assessed.

Assessment of needs

There has long been criticism of waiting lists for assessment of needs, also known as disability assessments. These are used to identify a child’s health needs and to identify what services are required to meet them.

However, Minister Rabbitte was highly critical of the “assessment industry”, which has developed within the HSE and has ordered a cut in paperwork.

Asked if there was too much of a focus on assessments rather than providing services, the Minister was unequivocal: “Absolutely. There’s a complete comfort with doing the paper and then we might see the child. It has to be all about the child at the centre and the young person. Parents want direct one-to-one intervention, they are not therapists. We need the therapist to do the therapy job. I am so clear about that.”

She says work is underway to increase the role of other services, such as Down Syndrome North East or special schools like the Holy Family in Cootehill to allow them to provide more services and therapies to reduce pressure on other centres like that at Enable Ireland.

“I am looking at the role of down syndrome [centres], the role of special schools to give more capacity for the teams to deliver that one-to-one. I certainly am not giving capacity to do more paperwork,” said the minister.