In August of this year the government announced that 16 special schools would be part of a pilot programme to increase the provision of therapeutic services for children with disabilities on-site in schools. 

Six schools, four in Cork and two in Dublin, were announced as the initial sites for the pilot, with more due to be announced in October.

In September it became clear that there has been no additional recruitment of CDNT staff to provide services in the pilot. Instead, the HSE proposed redeploying existing CDNT staff to provide the in-school therapies.

This further escalates the existing staffing crisis among children’s disability network teams (CDNT).

A HSE workforce review last year found that there was an average vacancy rate of 36% across the children’s disability network teams (CDNT) around the country.

In a meeting with the HSE last week, Fórsa made clear that recruitment for the pilot programme needed to take place before implementation of the programme begins, to avoid negative impact on the already over-stretched children's disability teams. 

While the HSE agreed at the meeting to review their proposed approach, within 24 hours they confirmed that they intended to proceed as outlined in the meeting by redeploying current CDNT staff. 

Fórsa national secretary Linda Kelly has responded, saying: “It appears that this pilot is a politically motivated priority ahead of an election rather than any meaningful attempt to provide much-needed services to children and families”. 

“The suggestion that existing staff could fulfil the services is tantamount to robbing Peter to pay Paul. We know that staff working in children’s disability services are under huge pressure, and now it’s being suggested that they should have additional work. Such a move would have a negative impact in the services they provide and on staff themselves.”

“Given the strong views of our members on this issue and in order to protect the current CDNT service provision, Fórsa will not agree to the redeployment or reassignment of any current CDNT staff member to the proposed pilot,” she said. 

CDNT members working on teams involved in the proposed pilot have received correspondence setting out the Union instruction regarding redeployment. If any member requires support, they should contact their local Fórsa Official Sarah O’Leary (Cork) or Eoghan Ryan (Dublin). 

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