Change urged as no child disability team in Cork is fully staffed

Cork TD Thomas Gould has called for “a radical change in how we approach children’s disability services” in Cork.

Deputy Gould raised concerns about the staffing situation within the Children's Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) in Cork and said more needs to be done to make job opportunities within the public service more attractive as many people are emigrating or choosing to work in the private sector.

It comes as the Deputy received a response to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) requesting the current Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staffing levels in each of the CDNTs in CHO4 which showed that not a single CDNT in Cork or Kerry is fully staffed.

“Overall, the CDNTs are operating at an average of 85% capacity with some missing as many as one in three staff they should have employed,” Deputy Gould said.

“This is causing a crisis for children who desperately need access to therapy and for parents who are, in many cases, forced to pay for private therapies they really can’t afford.

“It is long past time that the government developed a plan to make children’s disability services a more enticing career pathway within the HSE and properly resource these roles to ensure that children are not left waiting years for vital services.

“The reality is that there are not enough college places for these courses and that many of the people who graduate are emigrating or going to work in the private sector.

“The government needs to look at why this is happening and work to make these job opportunities within the public service more attractive.” The breakdown of figures obtained by the Deputy shows that East Cork City (CDNT 7) is the area with the most vacant posts with a vacancy rate of 8.72 posts.

This is followed by Carrigaline/Kinsale/Bandon (CDNT 13) which has 4.98 vacant posts, Northwest Cork (CDNT 4) which has 4.70, South East Cork City (CDNT 11) which has 4.43, and Northeast Cork (CDNT 5) which has 4.40.

The remainder of CDNTs in Cork had a vacancy rate of 4.0 posts or less.

No Access

“At the heart of this issue are children who cannot access psychology, speech and language, occupational therapy and social work,” Deputy Gould said.

He said that these are children for whom early intervention is key but said many are well into their primary school journey before they can access services due to the high numbers on waiting lists.

“Parents are at the end of their tether. They are telling me that every single state support involves a battle. From the minute they recognise their child needs an assessment, they begin to fight,” the Deputy said.

“From assessment to therapy to school places to supports in school, helping children meet their full potential is hard enough. 

"The state should be offering a helping hand to parents but instead they are placing even more barriers in their way.

“It is time for radical change in how we approach children’s disability services,” he said.

A spokesperson for Cork Kerry Community Healthcare (CKCH) told The Echo: “Staff retention and recruitment continues to be an ongoing challenge for the five lead agencies (Enable Ireland, Brothers of Charity, St Joseph’s Foundation, Co-Action West Cork and COPE Foundation) due to a number of factors.

“They have a number of initiatives underway to recruit staff e.g. ongoing rolling recruitment campaigns, advertisement abroad, links to third-level colleges and student placements.

“This year, the HSE - with the lead agencies - offered a bursary for four final year psychology students to encourage them to take up vacant posts on the completion of their course and we are examining similar initiatives for other Health and Social Care professionals this year.”