PROVISION for speech and language therapy still has some way to go. As schools start a new academic year, the Health Department is still without a new paediatric therapist for children with learning difficulties.

The department is reporting to the States on its short and long-term goals for the service at the end of the month, after the House approved a requete on the issue from then Deputy Peter Derham in March.

Health minister Peter Roffey admits that progress has not been easy. ‘The report is showing that we are trying to develop the service and starting to, but there is still some way to go to reach the levels we’d like it to be at,’ he said.

‘But it will depend on the resources made available. We don’t know what the budget will be next year; it’s one of the peculiarities of the changes in the system of government and we won’t know until December.’

Deputy Roffey said the first step had been taken by securing the establishment of two extra speech and language therapists and one assistant, but he accepted the need to go further.

A second adult therapist has been recruited and an unqualified assistant is also on board on a term-time-only basis.

‘We haven’t yet been able to recruit a paediatric speech and language therapist but there is a national shortage and we are hopeful that we can recruit in the near future,’ said Deputy Roffey.

‘Ideally, we would have loved the additional paediatric therapist to have been in place before the beginning of the school term. We know it would benefit the service and can only apologise to parents that that hasn’t been achieved.’

He added that the package to encourage people to the island for the job was relatively attractive, but with the national shortage, it was never going to be easy.

‘We’ve gone part of the way towards the short-term goals. Ideally, we’d like to increase the number to 10 qualified speech and language therapists, which would mean another two. We’re hoping to do that over the next two years.’

It costs a total of £55,504 for each therapist, including wages and other allowances and relocation costs.

Even if the target of 10 was reached, it is still six below the UK national manpower level recommendations for the island’s population.

‘In common with just about every other health authority in the UK, we’re below in all sorts of areas in health provision.’

Deputy Roffey added that the department had to balance competing demands and there would never be enough money to do everything.