AQW 12425/22-27
Miss Nuala McAllister
Alliance Party
North Belfast
Tabled Date: 22/05/2024
Answered On Date: 06/06/2024
Priority Written: No
Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail the work underway to ensure demand for respite provision for children with complex needs and their families is being met.
Answer:
Short Break and respite care provide valuable opportunities for children & young people with complex needs to spend time away from their parents / primary carers, whilst also allowing parents / primary carers to have a break from their caring responsibilities. Across Northern Ireland short breaks for children with disability is delivered by the five Health and Social Care Trusts in partnership with the community and voluntary sector. Access to and the frequency of short breaks is dependent on individually assessed need. It is acknowledged that regionally availability for young people with disability is a pressure across the HSC Trusts. There has been an increase in children & young people reported to have disability and there has been an increasing demand for access to short breaks & respite services. My Department continues to work with each of the HSC Trusts in terms of closely monitoring regional service provision for children with disability. To gain a better understanding of short break provision across the region, my Department has developed a monitoring framework to capture monthly data from individual HSC Trusts – inclusive of waiting lists for short break services within each Trust area for young people with disability. This will assist with informing of regional and local pressures. There has been additional funding provided for services for Children with Disability in recent years. Since 2020, including additional funding for 2023/24, specific recurrent funding of approximately £7.5m has been provided for services and supports for Children with a Disability, which includes over £1m specifically in relation to short breaks (respite) and family support enhancement services. The Children With Disability Framework is also currently being finalised by my Department in response to increasing challenges faced by families of Children With Disability and the corresponding difficulties experienced by Trusts in meeting rising demands and increased complexity of need. It is recognised that a review and reform of how services are structured, delivered and resourced, both from a regional perspective and locally in each of the Trusts is required. This includes the provision of Short Break. The full implementation of the Children With Disability Framework will better enable Trusts and independent sector providers to respond to the pressures across Health and Social Care, specifically: (i) increasing demand for early and community-based support; (ii) increasing demand for respite care/short breaks; (iii) increasing demand for more bespoke residential placements; and (iv) better planning and management of complex transitions from children to adult services. A Children With Disability Workstream has also been established as part of the Children’s Social Care Services Strategic Reform Board. This workstream will be looking specifically at the regional position in respect of Children With Disability, and will include a focus on short breaks / respite. The Children With Disability Workstream will seek to deliver reform within Children’s Social Care services to address a range of known service challenges, particularly in relation to an ever-increasing volume and complexity of case work. The outcomes of this work will inform future commissioning. All HSC Trusts are currently working with the Department of Health to develop potential options to address the increasing regional demand for short breaks, noting the very challenging financial environment.
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