NDA Report - Assessment of Need Part 2 of the Disability Act commenced in 2007 for children under 5 Parents of 8000+ children have applied to date (up to 2011) Little published information addressing questions, such as: How the statutory assessment of need process operates in practice? What contributes to the variation in how the statutory assessment of need process operates in different locations? What are the obstacles to ensuring that more statutory assessments of need are completed within statutory timeframes?

Purpose of the study To inform the operation of the statutory assessment of need process under the Disability Act 2005 Aims of study: to describe practice and understandings of various personnel involved in the statutory assessment of need to understand parents’ understandings, motivations and experiences of the statutory assessment of need process The fieldwork undertaken for this report sought to address these operational, organisational and process issues. This report is not a review of the clinical practice of those who assess children as part of the statutory assessment of need process. 70+ interviews with stakeholders from 8 HSE Local Health Office areas Interviewed personnel involved in assessment of need process 8 Assessment Officers 7 Service managers / team leads 24 Assessors (clinicians) Interviewed 33 parents from same 8 Local Health Office Areas Viewed anonymised sample of assessment reports

Findings Parents were mostly positive about their experience of assessment of need process. Parents’ satisfaction, however, is related to whether or not their child received services or enhanced services post assessment of need Health and education professionals are responsible for referrals to assessment of need not parents Resource allocation or service eligibility rules of the health and education systems play a critical role in shaping the type of assessments that assessors conduct

Findings Language of the Act has proved challenging for clinicians Clinicians who have developed a “comfort zone” around language of the Part 2 are likely to be: working within integrated or coordinated service delivery structures working as part of a multi-disciplinary team receiving feedback and some ongoing mentoring on the requirements of the statutory assessment of need process

Possible conclusions at that time Legislative requirements to underpin new policy directions in new policy context (Value for Money Policy Review) Consider a Code of Practice Reconfiguration of services for children and young people with disabilities Greater alignment of all assessment processes – statutory and non statutory Health and education sector – diagnosis should not be basis for allocation of resources

Possible conclusions at that time Strategic engagement between Departments of Health and Children regarding children with disabilities in vulnerable families Savings – encryption; software used in scoring assessments; dictation and typing admin support Enhanced communications and feedback to assessors

New resource allocation in education ECCE two years AIM What has changed since New resource allocation in education Not diagnosis based but is for SNA ECCE two years AIM Overage exemptions Key issue for parents On waiting lists Requiring assessment Lack of information Lack of joined up services Inconsistencies of approach Transitions

Children’s Disability Services in Ireland 2015 The report comprises: A literature review on community disability services for children Estimations of the number of children with disabilities who need services and the therapists needed for early intervention and school age disability teams

Children’s Disability Services in Ireland 2015 The data sources used were: HRB Databases – (2012) Census (2011) National Disability Survey (2006) Growing up in Ireland – 9-year old cohort (2007) NCSE data on children with special education needs – (2012) Limited international data on therapists per head of population

Children’s Disability Services in Ireland 2015 Caveats, Caveats, Caveats 2.7% to 4.1% of children aged 0-18 who need access to children’s interdisciplinary disability services Approx. 34,000 children who need to access an interdisciplinary team Numbers of additional therapists required 550 - 650 (above the 2012 staffing levels) Estimating necessary administrative, management and coordination staff part of this project

Transforming Lives – forecasting Report on the Future Needs for Disability Services Report estimates the demand for HSE-funded disability services up to 2026, by examining both current levels of unmet need and the impact of demographic change

Transforming Lives – forecasting Based on Increased staffing from 2012 Increased numbers of children 0 – 18 Estimated fertility and migration patterns Provides an estimate of a shortfall of 300 - 400 therapy posts above 2016 levels of staffing, up to 2021