Proposals from Denis Naughten TD that would see innovative recruitment of therapists to work evenings and weekends in children’s disability services has received the support of the Taoiseach.
The Dáil heard this week from Denis Naughten TD that the HSE must introduce flexible working contracts to attract therapists to the almost 800 vacancies that currently exist across children’s disability services.
“It is no secret that children’s disability services in this country are at breaking point. But the sheer scale of the problem is shocking when you learn that almost 800 vacancies exist in children’s therapies across primary care and the Children’s Disability Network Teams,” stated Denis Naughten.
“Those 800 vacancies exist across physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech & language therapy and psychology with over 550 vacancies in the CDNTs and over 240 vacancies in primary care. This means not alone are children enduring waiting lists for services they are also facing inordinate waits for assessment and with the HSE now purchasing capacity in the private sector to have assessments of need completed, options for parents are becoming more limited.”
Denis Naughten pointed out that on Leo Varadkar’s return to the role of Taoiseach he told the Dáil “our vision is to make Ireland the best country in Europe to be a child”.
“The unfortunate reality is that unless drastic action is taken that statement won’t apply to children with a disability,” pointed out Denis Naughten.
He also highlighted the case of one young child who received a diagnosis in February of this year. “This child, who is non-verbal, has just completed junior infants and in the almost five months since diagnosis not alone has he not received any form of service or speech therapy his family has not even been assigned a key contact and has been informed that the CDNT in question ‘can only facilitate critical clinical needs as the arrive’. How can we stand over situations like this?” asked Denis Naughten.
“We need to urgently look at the issues surrounding training, recruitment and retention not just in terms of future needs but how we are going to meet the needs of the thousands of children currently on waiting lists across the country.”
He pointed out that in the CDNTs the third highest reason accounting for vacancies is maternity leave, with almost 100 vacancies arising due to unfilled maternity leave cover. Maternity leave cover is unfunded so it is not custom and practice within children’s disability services to backfill these vacancies, which means posts are often left vacant for up to a year.
“I accept there are difficulties with recruitment but that is why we need to take a more flexible approach in our recruitment of therapists,” explained Denis Naughten. “I recently wrote to the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, with a suggestion that the HSE look at hours of work and offer part time contracts, which may suit therapists who have currently taken career breaks, in many instances for family reasons.
“It may suit such therapists to take up employment for a set number of hours per week including evenings and weekends and, indeed, I have spoken to a number of therapists who would actively consider such roles as it would allow them to take up employment when another family member is at home to care for children or elderly relatives or to work around study for example and would allow them to maintain their skills.
“Offering appointments in evenings and at weekends would also assist families where parents are working, with the benefits of less work hours lost and less school hours lost for children. I believe this would result in less missed appointments also due to work and school commitments. Given that many of these services are located in primary care buildings where GP out of hours services are located these buildings would already be open at these times.
“We are already seeing other HSE services being rolled out in what traditionally would have been out of hours times, including the likes of endoscopy, and I believe we have to look at the service we are delivering innovatively if we are to deliver vital services for our children.
“A move such as this would make it easier to recruit therapists while also addressing the waiting lists and I think consideration should be given to such a move.”
The Taoiseach supported the proposal acknowledging that the State will need to work innovatively to tackle waiting lists and difficulties with recruitment.
Leo Varadkar added: “It [the use of part time contracts] is certainly something we are willing to consider, as is the use of out-of-hours buildings and facilities where there is space available. That makes sense to me and I think a lot of parents would welcome the convenience of being able to take their kids to an appointment in the evening when they are finished their own work. That is a good idea too.
“I agree that the solution to a lot of these problems that we face with recruitment and retention in our health service, and other areas of the public service and private sector, is going to be innovation.”
ENDS.
Editor’s Note: Dail debate below
From: Denis Naughten
Sent: 20 June 2023 18:27
To: ‘ceo.office@hse.ie’ <ceo.office@hse.ie>; ‘CEO@hse.ie’ <CEO@hse.ie>
Subject: Proposal for therapist recruitment
Dear Mr. Gloster,
I am writing to you regarding the increasing waiting lists for children’s primary care therapies such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy and the current level of therapist vacancies.
As you are aware there are large waiting lists across the country and also a large number of vacant therapist positions, which the HSE is experiencing difficulty filling. This includes in excess of 80 paediatric primary care speech and language positions, which is replicated with over 60 such occupational therapy vacancies and ongoing vacancies in physiotherapy.
I believe that one way to attract applicants for these roles would be to look at the hours of work and to offer part time contracts which may suit therapists who have currently taken career breaks, in many instances for family reasons. It may suit such therapists to take up employment for a set number of hours per week including evenings and weekends and, indeed, I have spoken to a number of therapists who would actively consider such roles as it would allow them to take up employment when another family member is at home to care for children or elderly relatives or to work around study for example and would allow them to maintain their skills.
Offering appointments in evenings and at weekends would also assist families where parents are working, with the benefits of less work hours lost and less school hours lost for children. I believe this would result in less missed appointments also due to work and school commitments. Given that many of these services are located in primary care buildings where GP out of hours services are located these buildings would already be open at these times.
We are already seeing other HSE services being rolled out in what traditionally would have been out of hours times, including the likes of endoscopy, and I believe we have to look at the service we are delivering innovatively if we are to deliver vital services for our children.
A move such as this would make it easier to recruit therapists while also addressing the waiting lists and I would be grateful if you could give consideration to such a move.
Kind regards,
Denis Naughten TD