Madam, – We are gravely concerned about the provision of speech and language therapy services. There is tremendous demand for assessment and therapy across community health, disability and adult services – and a growing and skilled workforce of therapists have graduated in recent years to address these needs.
However, resources have not been made available to meet this vital case of supply and demand. As a result, children are not receiving services that would significantly improve their academic and social quality of life. Equally, adults affected by brain injury face the prospect of coping with limited communication without support from qualified professionals.
We appeal to Prof Brendan Drumm, chief executive of the HSE, to make the obvious link between the large number of unemployed speech and language therapists and the lengthening waiting list of clients in urgent need of therapy. – Yours, etc,