The HSE working with the non-statutory and voluntary organisations they fund and others in the health, education and disability sectors, have launched and established a national project ‘Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People’ which will change the way services are provided. This is based on the recommendations of the Report of the National Reference Group on Multidisciplinary Services for Children aged 5-18 Years produced by representatives of the professions and management involved in delivering multi-disciplinary services to children.
This project is included in the HSE Service Plan 2011 and the reconfiguration of existing therapy resources for children to geographic based teams is a priority and Key Result Area.
The project is being organised at national, regional and local level and will include representatives from services (both health and education) and parents getting together to see how current services can be reorganised to achieve this better structure. This will involve careful planning and inevitably there will be challenges while the changes take place.
The Key points of this report are:
Parents and families must be at the centre of all services for their children and services should be provided in partnership with them and available as close to their home as possible:
- By the local primary care team (GP, public health nurse, speech and language therapist etc) when and where the child’s needs can be met there
- If the child’s needs are more complex (whatever the nature of their disability) by early intervention and school age teams in each network area
- The primary care and network teams should be supported as appropriate by specialist teams with a high level of expertise in particular fields
- Close co-operation and teamwork between health services and schools will help children achieve their maximum potential
For the full report click on to Report – Progressing Disabilty Services