AQW 42866/22-27

Ms Connie Egan
Alliance Party
North Down

Tabled Date: 20/03/2026
Answered On Date: 05/05/2026
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail how his Department is increasing the workforce of child specialist (i) physiotherapists; and (ii) therapists.

Answer:

My Department does not commission specialist provisions. Specialist practice and planning is a matter for individual HSC Trusts. For the 2025/26 academic year my Department commissioned 110 pre-registration Physiotherapy training places, and 93 pre-registration Occupational Therapy training places. These represent significant increases in training places on both programmes in recent years.