New property sought for adults with disabilities

The provision of suitable new accommodation for day services for adults with disabilities in Cavan Town is set to be the focus of a crunch meeting next month as demand for such services continues to grow locally.

The HSE and Cavan Monaghan Disability Services are seeking “alternative accommodation” to the Clogher House Day Activation Unit at Rathcorrick, on the outskirts of Cavan Town. The unit was due for decommissioning as far back as 2018.

Representatives are set to make their case at a HSE Capital Estates meeting next month.

It was previously hoped that a new building, constructed on a greenfield site by the Cross Border Community Housing Association Limited, could be leased back to the HSE but ultimately an agreement was never reached.

Concerns over the suitability of Clogher House relate to capacity, where the number of soon-to-be young adults with severe/profound disabilities is set to increase over the next five years and, with that, a demand for placement and additional supports in the community.

This follows a review carried out in conjunction with the Holy Family School and the Occupational Guidance Officer in 2022, arising from which the HSE began looking for “alternative accommodation” and filed a formal submission for funding in June 2023.

“The review was carried out in 2022. Locations have been identified,” a spokesperson for the HSE informed the Celt.

“Cavan Monaghan Disability Services and HSE Estates are working on joint submission regarding the accommodation. This is due to be submitted mid August, for discussion at the Capital Estates meeting in September. Depending on the outcome of these discussions, Cavan Monaghan Disability Services will be better placed to advise on timelines and exact locations.”

The HSE, meanwhile, accepts that the Children’s Disability Network Team in Cavan, which caters for young people with disabilities aged 0-18 is missing the “legislative timeframes” that all children who require a Assessment of Need (AON) should receive it within six months.

The average waiting time for intervention in Cavan-Monaghan is currently two years.

“Unfortunately, we are not meeting this legislative requirement at this time,” admitted the HSE spokesperson to The Anglo-Celt.

At present, in Cavan, the Children’s Disability Network Team is operating with just over half its required staffing needs, and Working Time Equivalent vacancy ratio of 13.48.

Vacancies exist for around 16 positions. They include 3.8 Working Time Equivalent (WTE) Speech and Language (S&L) therapists; five clinical nurse specialists; 1.5 psychologists; 0.7 senior Occupational Therapists (OTs); and four positions in the area of Physiotherapy between staff grade and senior posts.

The low staffing levels are due to multiple reasons, from unfilled maternity leave posts to resignations and additional posts allocated but not yet filled.

The HSE now says in order to “manage the volume” of AON referrals going forward, the Cavan Monaghan CDNT teams have “outsourced a portion of the assessments to meet the legislative timeframes. This is reducing the rate of late assessments under the legislation and also allowing the teams to manage the interventions that are required following the assessments.”

Last month Minister with responsibility as for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, met members of the Cavan/Monaghan Parents Committee at Leinster House to discuss child access to vital services and therapies locally.

In attendance also were Minister Heather Humphreys, Fianna Fail’s Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth, and Senator Joe O’Reilly, as well as representatives from Enable Ireland, the organisation which oversees the delivery of disability supports locally.

Only recently did the €440,000 hydrotherapy pool located at the Hillside Centre, Rathcorrick, reopen after an almost four-year closure.

Issues with funding and staffing, which caused the shutdown, only came to light during a visit by Minister Rabbitte earlier in the year.

In a statement to the Celt following last month’s meeting, Minister Rabbitte outlined the “ongoing” work was taking place between her department officials, the HSE and Children’s Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) “across the country”.

Specific to Cavan-Monaghan, Minister Rabbitte is supporting a request from Enable Ireland for three Clinical Specialist Posts on the CDNT, which requires around €18,000 extra in funding. These include one OT, one S&L therapist and a physiotherapist, and is understood to be part of a larger roadmap to deliver 85 assistant posts nationwide.