George Lawlor: Wexford CD&Ts in chaos, asks for answers
George Lawlor raises a staffing crisis affecting four Children's Disability Network Teams (CDNTs) in County Wexford during a Dáil exchange. He details missing psychologists, OTs, nurses and social workers, and asks what the government will do to ensure full teams and services for children and families.
George Lawlor outlines that none of the four CDNTs in County Wexford currently have full teams, with gaps in psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses and social workers. He warns that the inability to cross-cover means local teams cannot meet urgent needs and that children and families are suffering.
The speech names specific staff shortages and highlights how cross-cover is not possible between teams, limiting the ability of services to respond in URAS and other urgent situations. The problem is described as affecting access to essential therapy and care across the county.
Lawlor emphasises the human cost: children and their families are experiencing real hardship because the required complement of services is not in place. The clip focuses on the consequences of understaffed CDNTs for care continuity and family wellbeing.
The Tánaiste acknowledged the challenge, said the government is increasing posts and training, and accepted that staffing gaps remain. She pledged to ask Minister Emer Higgins to obtain an HSE update on the four Wexford teams and to report back directly to Deputy Lawlor.
Summary of the exchange
George Lawlor outlines that none of the four CDNTs in County Wexford currently have full teams, with gaps in psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses and social workers. He warns that the inability to cross-cover means local teams cannot meet urgent needs and that children and families are suffering.
Staffing gaps and service limits
The speech names specific staff shortages and highlights how cross-cover is not possible between teams, limiting the ability of services to respond in URAS and other urgent situations. The problem is described as affecting access to essential therapy and care across the county.
Impact on families
Lawlor emphasises the human cost: children and their families are experiencing real hardship because the required complement of services is not in place. The clip focuses on the consequences of understaffed CDNTs for care continuity and family wellbeing.
Government response and next steps
The Tánaiste acknowledged the challenge, said the government is increasing posts and training, and accepted that staffing gaps remain. She pledged to ask Minister Emer Higgins to obtain an HSE update on the four Wexford teams and to report back directly to Deputy Lawlor.
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Transcript
Comhairle, Tánaiste, there are four Children's Disability Network teams in County Wexford and none of them have a full team. Some are missing psychologists, some are missing OTs, some don't have nurses available or social workers available and you can't cross cover. In other words, someone who is on the CD&T team in Wexford cannot provide a service to say somebody who has a requirement in URAS. It's been described to me that the CD&Ts in Wexford are in chaos as a result of the lack of staff and full teams available and children and their families are really, really suffering. Can you advise on what your government plan is to ensure that the CD&Ts across County Wexford and indeed across the country have a full complement of the services required? Thanks very much Deputy Lawlor for raising the issue. I can quote a load of stats but that's not going to fix the challenge. We are increasing the number of people working in CD&Ts, we are funding more posts, we are training more people but there are clearly real challenges in terms of fully staffing some of these teams. You have mentioned specific issues in relation to the four teams in County Wexford and the inability, perhaps for very good reasons I don't know, but the inability to cross cover. So what I will do on foot of you raising this is I will ask Minister Eimear Higgins to take a look at that to get an update from the HSE and to come back to you directly.