Parents press Minister on services for children with disabilities

What has been described as a “productive and informative” meeting was held with Minister for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, over concerns about access to vital services and therapies in the Cavan and Monaghan region.

The meeting took place on Tuesday, July 4, when members of the Cavan/Monaghan Parents Committee sat down at Leinster House with the Minister Rabbitte, alongside Minister Heather Humphreys, Deputies Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth, and Senator Joe O’Reilly.

Also in attendance were representatives from Enable Ireland, the organisation which oversees the delivery of disability supports locally to children aged 0-18 years, CEO John O’Sullivan and National Director of Services, Mary Fox.

It’s understood the primary focus of the discussion centred on issues facing families across Cavan and Monaghan in accessing children's disability services.

In a statement issued to the Celt, Minister Rabbitte says she outlined the “ongoing” work taking place between her department officials, the HSE and Children's Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) “across the country”.

As part of that, she states that the HSE “continues to explore” a range of options to enhance the recruitment and retention of staff to teams and to “market” the lead agencies at CHO level as an “employer of choice in a competitive employment market”.

It is understood that exit polls carried out by Enable Ireland with staff leaving found that pay parity is a primary factor, as is the lack of pandemic pay similar to their HSE counterparts.

According to the latest figures available, there are 16 vacant posts within the Enable Ireland Cavan Children’s Disability Network Team, and the average waiting time for a child to received therapeutic intervention had now stretched out to two years.

Missing are speech and language therapists, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists; occupational therapists and physiotherapists at various levels of seniority.

The level of vacancies has increased from 13.5 Whole Time Equivalents in late February to 16 WTEs.

It is blamed on multiple reasons, from unfilled maternity leave posts to resignations and additional posts allocated not yet filled.

Continuing, Minister Rabbitte says that there are a “number of internal initiatives” within the HSE to combat “specific recruitment challenges”.

To ensure there is a pipeline of therapists in Disability Services, the Minister explained that the HSE has offered all of the class of 2023 “an opportunity to apply for employment” through the national recruitment campaigns targeting colleges such as Cavan Institute.

“Interviews have taken place and recruitment panels prepared. Permanent job offers will be issued prior to their professional registration.”

By the end of 2024, the HSE has targeted the recruitment of over 550 professionals for Children’s Disability Services. This is expected to be made up of HSPC Graduates (260), international recruitment (111) and its sponsorship programme (182).

“Funding has been provided for additional posts in recent years to enhance the capacity of Children’s Disability Network Teams and shorten waiting times. The overall funding in recent years provides for over 600 Whole Time Equivalent posts.”

Specific to Cavan-Monaghan, Minister Rabbitte is supporting a request from Enable Ireland for three clinical specialist posts on the team, which requires an additional €18,000 in funding. These include one Occupational Therapist, one Speech and Language Therapist, and a physiotherapist, and is understood to be part of a larger roadmap to deliver 85 assistant posts nationwide.

Assessment hubs

Separately “work is in progress” within the HSE to develop six regional hubs to undertake Assessment of Needs (AON) in order to clear the current backlog “at pace”, and these are expected to be in place by the beginning of next month.

“The intention behind the hubs is to provide personnel dedicated to the delivery of AON, while preserving the time of other clinical staff for the purposes of therapy interventions for children and families within the CDNT network.”

Minister Rabbitte concluded by stating that, in parallel to other initiatives, around €11m has been allocated to address waiting lists for clinical assessments identified through the AON process.

“This funding will be utilised to procure diagnostic ASD assessments from the private sector,” she stated.