Fórsa has called for the urgent introduction a Chief HSCP officer to the Department of Health in its latest submission to the Oireachtas Committee on autism policy and education.

The union made a number of recommendations on matters relating to the services and supports provided by the State for Autistic people in its recent presentation Committee on Tuesday (4^th October).

Linda Kelly, national secretary for health and social care professionals, and  head of education Andy Pike made a joint representation on behalf of the union to outline the key recommendations needed to be implemented to improve the delivery of services.

In her statement, Linda said there was a clear and urgent need for the creation of a Chief HSCP role within the Department of Health. This role would be similar to the Chief Nursing Officer and the Chief Medical Officer.

Fórsa has maintained such a role is of particular importance in the provision of disability services as envisioned by the ‘Progressing Disability Services for Children & Young People' (PDS) programme.

Linda described certain areas such as the funding arrangements in the community and voluntary sector, the children’s disability network teams and the need for a Chief HSCP office within the department of health as being in “crisis at the moment” and requiring immediate Government and political intervention.

“We’re looking at systematic failure for students with special needs & the professionals who support them. This is all infinitely fixable, if there is leadership,” she added.

Further Recommendations

As part of its recommendations Fórsa also stressed the need to address the issue of unequal pay in the provision of health services. “It is untenable that people working in the same teams earn different pay,” said Linda.

The union further called to address the CDNT recruitment and retention issue, to make provision for workforce planning that meet the minimum staffing set out in the national plan, to assess the requirements for relevant HSCP graces to be assigned to CDNT’s, and to put an end to the practice of “buying in private services” to fill vacancies arising from temporary leave.

At the briefing the union also called for three distinct policy areas to require immediate attention at political level. They were funding arrangements of the Community and Voluntary Sector, Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs), and, again, the need for a Chief HSCP Office within the Department of Health.

The union said while the funding arrangements in the community and voluntary sector extend past the disability sector and the provision of services to autistic people, the decision to continue the unfair, unequal pay arrangements is having a disproportionate impact in the provision of disability services.

Fórsa also called for a specific fund to be set up to support the change project that is PDS policy.

“It is a significant reconfiguration programme and requires dedicated strategic funding,” said Linda.

You can watch back the union’s briefing to the Committee here.