People with Disabilities in Ireland
4th Floor Jervis House
Jervis Street
Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 87 21 74 4
Fax: 01 87 21 77 1
Email: info@pwdi.ie
The setting up of the HSE gave people with disabilities hope that at least some of the archaic practices in the health service were about to change, practices that put people on a never ending circuit but rarely delivered for the individual because it never looked at needs from the whole human perspective the Chief Executive of PwDI has said.
Speaking on International Day of People with Disabilities Michael Ringrose said the co-ordination of services and the setting of binding standards for the delivery of those services is the critical issue for people with disabilities.
"Standards are intended to ensure that services are provided to an agreed level of quality and that the quality is consistent throughout the country," he said. "There is a huge regional variation on provision of health services. This creates a lottery based on one's address instead of one's needs.
"Already a great deal of very professional and high level work under the Chairmanship of Professor Vincent Dodd has gone into the preparation of draft standards. However, they have been hived off into an interim body, the Health Information and Quality Authority, with indications from Government that implementation would take years," he said.
"This is not at all satisfactory. They must see the light of day and be openly debated."
Mr Ringrose identified a number of other issues that must be addressed:
. A lack of long-term planning for health services for people with disabilities
. The importance of disability awareness training and the need for such training to be carried out by suitably qualified people.
The Dublin Seminar was one of a number held across the country to mark International Day of Disabled Persons, December 3rd.
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