From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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Minister of State for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, is delighted to announce the establishment of two additional Community Neuro-Rehabilitation Teams for CHO areas 2 and 4.
Neuro-rehabilitation services play a critical role in supporting recovery and/or maximising ability of those with neurological conditions. These multi-disciplinary teams will provide specialist neuro-rehabilitation for those with complex needs who don’t require an in-patient stay and will also provide rehabilitation for those with neurological conditions who are moving back home from in-patient rehabilitation facilities.
A total of €900,000 has been set aside for development of the two teams in 2023, while the full year cost in 2024 is €1.7 million. The recruitment process has now begun and the full teams are expected to be in place by the end of this year.
Announcing the establishment of the new teams, Minister Rabbitte commented:
“I am very happy to see the continued roll out of the Neuro-rehabilitation Strategy and two more teams coming on stream in CHO2 and CHO4. This has been one of my priorities since taking office as I know how great the need is for these services.
“I have worked closely with the HSE to make these new multi-disciplinary teams a reality. They will provide much needed supports to many people with rehabilitative needs and I am delighted that we are seeing further progress in supporting people to maximise their abilities. My intention is to keep expanding these teams over the years ahead and make sure there are clear support pathways in place for the people who need them."
Minister Rabbitte added:
“While the Neuro-rehabilitation strategy is focused on adults, I am also currently looking at how we can support children and young people who need neuro rehabilitation. My vision is that of a collaborative model that includes voluntary organisations alongside children’s hospitals and the Disability Network Teams and I look forward to providing further updates on this work as it progresses.”
Community Healthcare Organisation 2 (CHO2) encompasses Galway, Roscommon and Mayo.
Community Healthcare Organisation 4 (CHO 4) encompasses Kerry, North Cork, North Lee, South Lee, and West Cork.
The Programme for Government – 'Our Shared Future’ - includes a commitment for advancing neuro-rehabilitation services in the community. The Health Service Executive is leading on the implementation framework in respect of the recommendations of the National Policy and Strategy for the provision of Neuro-Rehabilitation Services in Ireland 2011-2015.
The Neuro-Rehabilitation Strategy Implementation Framework (IF) was launched in February 2019.
The overarching aim of the Strategy is the development of neuro-rehabilitation services to improve patient outcomes by providing safe, high quality, person-centred neuro-rehabilitation at the lowest appropriate level of complexity. This must be integrated across the care pathway, and provided as close to home as possible or in specialist centres where necessary. These services are to be configured into population based managed clinical rehabilitation networks (MCRNs). The overarching aim is the development of population based MCRN’s around the country.
In order to test the feasibility of this new MCRN model in the Irish context, a decision was made by the Neuro-Rehabilitation Steering Group to run two demonstrator projects within CHO6 and CHO7 to assess the feasibility of the model to inform national roll-out, the demonstrator project now has been expanded in budget 2023 to incorporate CHO2 and CHO4.