Speech and language therapy recruitment
Deputy Mythen raises long waits for speech and language therapy in Wexford and asks about recruiting more frontline staff, then asks about maternity leave cover. The Taoiseach says the programme for Government commits to more therapists and that maternity leave should automatically be covered by a replacement.
Page 40 of the programme for Government has a section on supporting our healthcare workers. The Government commits to recruiting additional front-line staff, including speech and language therapists. There are more than 1,000 people waiting for an assessment by a speech and language therapist in Wexford. Some 606 of them have not even had an assessment yet, 460 are awaiting therapy and 179 of them have been waiting for over a year for their therapy. I know that the Covid-19 emergency has slowed down services but this does not excuse people waiting for over a year. We have heard locally that nine speech and language therapists are on maternity leave in Wexford. How will the HSE cover this shortage and when will recruitment start?
Comment on this
There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government about recruitment of speech therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists, as well as other disciplines and professions. We hope to do some therapy through the school system by having a greater presence in schools, which is something I have been personally committed to for a long time. I think it is a better model for the development of children in the school setting, working with teachers and other educational professionals. Covid-19 has impacted on our plans and it has clearly drawn staff away from vital services in the early phase of the pandemic to do the testing and tracing that was discussed earlier and to lead that in given locations. That had a consequential negative impact on services.