Reconfiguring Children’s Services
As part of Transforming Lives, a national programme of social and health care reform to improve disability services in Ireland, the HSE’s Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People programme has reconfigured children’s disability services into CDNTs which provide specialised health and social care services for children who have complex needs arising from their disability. The programme is based on the recommendations of the 2009 Report of the Reference Group on Multi-disciplinary Services for Children aged 5-18 Years.
CDNTs services are based on children’s needs and where children live. This reconfigure took place to deliver more equitable access to family-centred services for disabled children with complex needs in every part of Ireland. This reconfiguration is now complete.
Review of CDNT Service Model
We have been commissioned by the HSE to conduct a review of the CDNT service model. This is action 2.17 in the Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023-2026.
Our review will consist of three parts:
- Part 1: a review of the CDNT service model
- Part 2: a project to determine the optimal staffing for CDNTs
- Part 3: an evaluation of a pilot of enhanced in-school therapy supports provided in certain special schools.
Part 1
Thank you to all the parents and guardians, staff and managers of CDNTs for completing our surveys. These surveys are now closed and we are in the process of analysing the data.
We are now planning interviews and focus groups with:
- Children
- Parents and guardians
- Senior staff in children’s disability services
- Staff in Primary Care and CAMHS
- Former CDNT staff
We have also invited relevant stakeholders to make a submission to the review.
We anticipate having a draft final report by year end.
Part 2
We are currently developing the methods for Part 2 which aims to determine the optimal staffing for CDNTs
Part 3
We conducted an evaluation of a pilot of enhanced in-school therapy supports provided in six special schools in Dublin and Cork.
We have completed the data collection and analysis and are in the process of finalising the report.
Literature Reviews
To inform the review we are conducting a number of literature reviews. Six have been completed and can be downloaded below.
The aim of this literature review was to examine the international literature for guidelines or best practice recommendations for determining appropriate caseloads or workloads for interdisciplinary teams that deliver children’s disability services.
Read the Literature ReviewThe aim of this literature review is to examine the evidence base in relation to IDTs for services similar to CDNTs. That is, community-based teams with several disciplines on the team.
Read the Literature ReviewThe aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the benefits, challenges and implications of task shifting from Allied Health Professionals (AHP) to Allied Health Assistants (AHA) in community health care communities.
Read the Literature ReviewThis literature review aims to examine international literature to understand the optimal skill mix and key non-clinical competencies required for staff working in IDT based children’s disability service. This review will build on the work previously conducted by the NDA and the NTDP
Read the Literature ReviewThe aim of this review is to explore the level of intervention or therapy received by children with disabilities and identify current practices and theoretical frameworks used by therapists and interdisciplinary teams.
Read the literature reviewThe aim of this research was to review referral prioritisation tools and techniques in community-based health and social care services.
Read the literature review