Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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31. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on the CDNT recruitment campaign, ‘Be part of our team, be part of their lives’; the number of people who have been recruited to the CDNTs through this recruitment campaign; the current number of staff vacancies nationally in CDNTs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26214/24]

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I wish to ask for an update on the children's disability network team, CDNT, recruitment campaign, Be part of our team, Be part of our lives. How many people have been recruited to the CDNTs through this campaign? What is the current number of staff vacancies nationally in CDNTs? Will the Minister of State will make a statement on this matter?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Tully for raising this question. It will be the second time today I address her, after being in committee earlier.

The CDNT recruitment campaign, Be part of our team, Be part of their lives, has closed across CHOs. To date, 190 job offers have been made and 55 individuals are currently in the final stages of recruitment. Funding has been provided in recent years for additional posts to enhance the capacity of CDNTs and to shorten the waiting times. The funding amounts to a total of 800 whole-time equivalent posts, including an additional 175 therapy assistant posts which were approved in budget 2024. However, as we all know from the 2022 staff census, there are more than 700 vacant whole-time equivalent posts in our CDNTs. It did not change much in the 2023 staff census, either.

The HSE has been asked to conduct another CDNT recruitment campaign in the coming months which will ensure there is continued recruitment to the CDNTs, which in turn will hopefully strengthen the CDNTs' provision of services. It will be important that the HSE identifies and applies any points of learning from the first campaign. The HSE is operating in a very competitive global market for healthcare talent as there are significant shortages of qualified healthcare professionals across the globe. The HSE community operations disability services are working collaboratively with the CDNT lead agencies at CHO level to promote CDNTs as a workplace of choice in a competitive employment market.

Some 93 CDNTs are aligned with 96 community healthcare networks, CHNs, across the country and are providing services and supports for children from birth to 18 years of age. The CDNTs are currently providing services and supports for 46,000 children. However, there are significant challenges for CDNTs including staff vacancies, the growth in the numbers and the demand for assessments of need. I can come back in on the second point.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State mentioned the staff census of 2022. The 2023 staff census has yet to be published. Does the Minister of State have a date for when it will be published? I know it was delayed because of the industrial action but I wonder is there a date for that in order to be able to compare across the board.

I wish to focus on my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. The HSE-run team in Monaghan had a vacancy rate of approximately 40%. The Cavan team, which is a section 39 organisation, had a 60% vacancy rate. The Minister of State indicated to me before that in this recruitment campaign there were approximately 80 applicants in the CHO 1 area. Does she have figures of how many of those people have actually been offered positions within that area or specifically within the Cavan and Monaghan area?

How long is the recruitment taking? I know that sometimes there are significant delays with CORU. Have those delays been addressed? Time is of the essence. We are all hearing from families who are looking for services and not getting them at the moment. Recruitment needs to be beefed up as quickly as possible.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The date for the publication of the 2023 staff census will be in the next two weeks. While I do not have a specific figure for Cavan and Monaghan, I know that for CHO 1, which covers the Cavan and Monaghan areas, there were 88 people who expressed interest.

As to what measures are being taken, the national team development of the programme is holding lunchtime webinars. There are confined senior-grade competitions going on. It is marketing the CDNT as a workplace of choice. There are human resources engagements with graduates, in person and via webinars, as well as recordings of CDNT staff and parents around the benefits of working with it. There are also student sponsorship programmes, an additional 20 senior clinical psychologist training placements, confined senior-grade competitions and a recruitment plan for 462 health and social care workers by the end of 2024. The HSE has set its own target it wishes to achieve in the health and social care profession, which is 462 this year.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State mentioned graduates. Have the numbers entering these professions in college increased and have they increased dramatically? Are we seeing an increase in the number of people graduating and staying in Ireland to work?

The Minister of State mentioned the apprenticeship model, which is an excellent model as well. Are we seeing a lot more people taking up these courses or is it proving difficult to get people into them? Some people have said that the points' requirement can be extremely high. Many people would be interesting in doing courses in the likes of occupational therapy but the points requirement in the leaving certificate is too high.

Every week I deal with families who are being really messed around. Families have been referred from primary care to the CDNT and then on to CAMHS. They do not know where they are going. Even the ones who are with the CDNT are not getting services. I am constantly sending emails but I do not even get responses anymore. One mother who got in contact with me has a child with epilepsy so it is not like she requires an assessment of need. She needs supports because she is starting school and the school needs to know what it has to do. The mother cannot get a reply from the CDNT.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Regarding the right front door, it is called the national access policy, NAP. This is a HSE policy document. Under the leadership of Bernard Gloster I have seen huge improvements in communication between primary healthcare, CAMHS, acute services and disability services. They are talking to one other and not working in silos. Granted, there are variances across the country. Some are working really well and others could do with improvement. That policy is being rolled out. It is totally understood at a senior level and it is filtering all the way down.

Regarding recruitment and attraction, I agree. I spoke earlier today about the excellent programme in social care that was launched in Cork in the past month with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan. We have seen some 30 students take places on the apprenticeship programme. I would really like to see that stepped up now to occupational therapy, physiotherapy and speech and language therapy. Students can earn and learn as part of a pathway through education that also provides the proper clinical governance. It is a way of attracting and retaining people.