Community neuro-rehabilitation access
Deputy Joan Collins highlights the lack of a community neuro-rehabilitation team in CHO 7 despite promised national coverage. The Tánaiste says he will ask the Minister for Health to send timelines and further information.
I have received a number of emails in relation to the lack of community neuro-rehabilitation in CHO 7, which covers part of the constituency I represent, and I gave a commitment I would raise the matter. Only 15% of people countrywide have access to a community neuro-rehabilitation team. Under the implementation framework for the nuero-rehabilitation strategy launched in 2019, a team was promised for each CHO, and yet only two of the nine have been delivered and the CHO is without a team. For people living with acquired conditions such as stroke and brain injury, these teams allow patients to leave hospitals more quickly. For people living with progressive conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, access to these teams could help prevent unnecessary disability. There is now more of a need, with long Covid. Can the Tánaiste give a date for the planned community team to be put in place in CHO 7? If the Tánaiste cannot give that date today, will he inquire and give a commitment to my constituents that he will come back with that date?