Written Answers - Departmental Funding.
Noel Ahern
Question:
124
Mr. N. Ahern
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will give an update on the special funding for people with intellectual disabilities promised over a three year period, with particular reference to Dublin, and indicate when the three year period commenced for January 1999 and January 2000; if funding to date has been fully taken up by health boards or agencies; if services, particularly respite and long stay residential places, are being provided in the numbers and projections as outlined and targeted; if there is slippage from the programme; if corrective measures can be taken; if revised targets for the three year period can be outlined; and if funding will be continued into the fourth year if targets are not met.
[12709/01]
In late 1999, the Government gave a commitment to meet the identified needs of persons with an intellectual disability and those with autism within a defined timeframe of three years, commencing with a major acceleration of investment – both revenue and capital – in 2000. Additional revenue funding amounting to £28 million, with a full year cost in 2001 of £35 million, was made available in 2000 for new service developments. Some £10.7 million was also made available in 2000 to meet the full year cost of the 1999 developments and identified needs in existing services. In 2001, a further £28 million, with a full year cost in 2002 of £35 million, was made available for the development of new services, together with a further £10 million to meet the full year cost of the 2000 developments and identified needs in existing services. In all, therefore, the overall total revenue investment in the services over the last two years is £76.7 million, increasing to £83.7 million in 2002. Capital funding amounting to £75 million, £30 million in 2000 and £45 million in 2001 has also been allocated to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the service developments.
Additional funding amounting to £13.17 million in 2000 and £13.165 million in 2001, with a full year cost of £14.71 million in 2002, has been allocated to date to the Eastern Regional Health Authority for the development of new services, together with a further £4.28 million over the two year period in question to meet identified needs in existing services. Capital funding amounting to £26.9 million has also been allocated to the authority for the services in the same period.
When allocating additional funding for new services, estimates are made, based on averaged costs, of the number of new residential, respite and day places which might be expected from this funding. However these figures are subsequently adjusted to take account of the actual number of new places which are provided by the end of the year in question. As the Deputy will appreciate, the cost of providing residential, respite and day places varies, depending on individual client needs. In 2000, 422 new residential, 166 new respite and 815 new day places were provided. The original estimated figures for the services were 555 residential, 185 respite and 700 day places. In addition to the new residential places, there was also a significant level of enhanced service provision for persons who were already in receipt of some level of residential care. This would include for example extending a five day placement to seven days. In the case of respite care, some day respite services were also provided, in addition to an enhanced level of home support. Other health related support services were also enhanced and progress was also made in relation to the transfer of persons with an intellectual disability from psychiatric hospitals and other inappropriate placements and in developing specialist services for those who require a more intensive level of support. My Department is currently receiving details of the expected number of new residential, respite and day places for 2001 from the health boards and I will let the Deputy have this information when it is compiled.
Despite encountering similar difficulties to other areas of the health services in recruiting and retaining certain categories of staff, the funding for these services has been fully taken up by the health boards, the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the various other service providers.
My Department is reviewing the position in relation to this development programme on an ongoing basis with the health boards. Initial information from the national intellectual disability database in relation to the level of service provision and identified need as of 30 May 2001, which will reflect the impact of the 2000 development programme, will also be available in the early autumn and will assist my Department in this matter. The national monitoring committee, which is representative of my Department, the Health Research Board, the chief executives of the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the Federation of Voluntary Bodies Providing Services to People with Mental Handicap, the National Association for the Mentally Handicapped of Ireland (NAMHI) and the National Parents and Siblings Alliance, are also involved in the monitoring of this programme.
The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot at this stage give specific commitments in relation to levels of expenditure in 2002 for any particular service area as these matters will be decided as part of the discussions on the Estimates and budget for that year between my Department and the Department of Finance. I would however like to assure the Deputy that this Government will fulfil the commitment which it gave in relation to meeting the needs of this population group when it initiated the current investment programme.
