South Tipperary disability vacancies
Deputy McGrath described serious staffing vacancies and disorder in the south Tipperary children's disability network team, with long delays for children awaiting services. The Health Minister said the situation was unacceptable, noted many funded posts remain unfilled, and said recruitment and assessment-of-need problems must be resolved.
The south Tipperary children's disability network team is in total disarray. The disability network manager has recently resigned, as has the network social worker. There is a senior occupational therapist vacancy, a speech and language therapist vacancy and a psychologist vacancy. What is going on? There are five whole-time equivalent vacancies in the network. Children with disabilities are being placed on waiting lists with ever-increasing delays. That is not acceptable to anyone in this day and age. It is simply not acceptable to allow children to wait for three or four years when early intervention is vital for the children, their peers, their parents and everybody else. Something has to happen here. The Minister just answered a question from a Deputy who was not satisfied. None of us is satisfied with the way the HSE is carrying on. It just tells us there are staff shortages and pushes us back down the line again. It is just not acceptable to the daoine óga. Cherish our children. What we are doing? We are letting them languish on waiting lists for three, four and five years. It is not acceptable.
Comment on this
It is not acceptable and it is an issue in the Deputy's constituency and right across the country. What the Government has done is funded a very large number of posts. There are several hundred posts in the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People which have not been filled. I have asked the Department and the HSE to find solutions to this, including, for example, more senior roles and more advanced practitioners. At the same time, the Deputy will be aware of the assessment of need ruling the HSE is dealing with. Very significant progress was being made. There were over 70,000 children on the waiting list and that came down to below 55,000 and was moving quickly in the right direction.
Comment on this
The ruling on the assessment of need has, unfortunately, caused real problems for the HSE in terms of getting the children the care they need. We have to resolve the assessment of need issue and the recruitment issue the Deputy quite rightly raised.