Latest news with #assessment
CBC
4 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Manitoba declined to follow through on urgent plans to review wildfire preparedness after NDP took power
Manitoba declined to follow through on urgent plans outlined in provincial documents to conduct an external review of wildfire preparedness after the NDP took power in 2023. The minister in charge said the province conducted internal assessments of the wildfire service instead. In a note prepared for the incoming government marked as an "urgent issue" in the fall of 2023, Manitoba's wildfire service said it wanted to review how prepared it was to respond to the next wildfire season, detect wildfires and make tactical decisions. That note was part of a government-transition binder prepared for NDP officials following the provincial election in October 2023, in which the previous Progressive Conservative government was defeated. That binder was later published, with some redactions. The service said in the note that it was "exploring opportunities" to hire a consultant to conduct a forensic examination of the 2023 wildfire season and assess the preparedness of the wildfire service for the next wildfire season. "The focus of the study would be on identifying opportunities for improvement and addressing gaps," read the note, which listed assistant deputy minister Kristin Hayward as the official responsible. The study would have examined how decisions were made both before and during the wildfire season, whether staff requested, collected and examined the right information to prepare for and manage wildfires, and whether the service had the right systems in in place to to support "safe, efficient and effective decision-making and operations," according to the note. The study also would have looked at "whether the right information got to the people that needed it, both on a daily operational basis and during incidents," and whether existing policies and practices were followed, according to the note. In addition, the study would have looked at whether key wildfire service personnel had the appropriate training and experience, the note said. 'Reviewed the options': province Since the 2023 note, the government has not hired a consultant to assess Manitoba's wildfire preparedness, according to a statement from the province, which was not attributed to any official. "The province reviewed the options but ultimately did not proceed with using an external consultant at that time," the statement said. Ian Bushie, Manitoba's minister of natural resources and Indigenous futures, said in a statement the province conducted internal assessments of response times, protection and wildfire forecasting in 2024 and 2025. Those assessments were led by the wildfire service, in collaboration with other departments and agencies, he said, with a focus on "building capacity within our public service" rather than outsourcing. "Their deep knowledge and expertise provide strong internal capacity to identify what worked and where improvements are needed," Bushie said. In an interview late Wednesday, Bushie said he could not say whether the internal assessments conducted over the past two years replicated the external review envisioned in 2023. "Those things are a work in progress," the minister said. "As we go forward in each season, we learn from each season, we learn in real time to be able to assess. "So I couldn't actually go back and refer to old documents and say, yes, we've checked this box." Bushie also said he is not aware what transpired in 2023, when a PC government was in power, to warrant a forensic examination of wildfire preparedness. Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Lisa Naylor said during a Monday news conference that wildfire officials were prepared for everything that has transpired during the 2025 wildfire season, the worst in recent memory. A total of 9,022 square kilometres of the province have burned so far this year, displacing roughly 22,000 people. The burned area works out to 1.6 per cent of Manitoba's land mass. Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan questioned whether the province was in fact prepared for a wildfire season of this magnitude. "The question becomes, was this government completely caught off guard by this?" Khan asked during an interview from Ottawa. He questioned why Manitoba did not hire an external consultant to review wildfire preparedness. "This recommendation was made to the NDP. The NDP chose not to take action," he said.
The Independent
29-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
The long wait for an ADHD diagnosis in the UK
An estimated 2.5 million people in England may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to new figures. NHS England estimates suggest that 741,000 children and young people aged five to 24 may have ADHD, along with 147,000 under the age of five. Over half a million people (549,000) in England were waiting for an ADHD assessment as of March 2025, up from 416,000 the previous year. Of those waiting for assessment, 304,000 had been waiting at least a year, and 144,000 had been waiting at least two years, with the majority (382,000) aged between five and 24. Healthwatch England 's chief executive, Louise Ansari, highlighted that many people with ADHD don't seek support due to long assessment waits and called for more comprehensive and robust data collection.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on disability services: making promises is the easy part
The determination and commitment of a 14-year-old disability rights activist has once again embarrassed the Government over its inability to implement its own disability legislation. The law currently requires that the State provides a child with a disability with a formal statement of their needs within six months of making an application. The target is being missed by a country mile. There are currently 15,000 waiting for more than six months and the number is due to reach 25,000 by the end of the year. A similar campaign by Cara Darmody – who this week staged a 50-hour picket outside Leinster House – led to a commitment by the Government last year of an additional €10 million to the budget for assessments. This time the Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the Minister for Children and Disabilities, Norma Foley, have made a commitment to make unspecified changes in the law which should speed up the assessment process. The Government has also committed to training and recruiting more therapists, saying that money would not be a barrier to reforms. READ MORE If these commitments are met the result should be an improvement in the time taken to carry out assessments. Ensuring that the quality of the assessments do not suffer will be a challenge. But surely not an insurmountable one. The bigger and arguably more difficult challenge will be to ensure the delivery of the services required by the assessment of needs. The organisations that provide many of these services on behalf of the health service say that they are in crisis . The heads of 36 voluntary disability services providers have written to the chief executive of the Health Service Executive, Bernard Gloster, warning of an 'an extreme risk' to their ability to expand services or, in many cases, sustain existing operations. They say that funding has not kept up with increases in wages and other non-pay costs such as electricity. Several of them have said that they are on the verge of bankruptcy and should by law cease or curtail the services they offer to some 80,000 people with disabilities. The fact that so many disability services providers find themselves in this situation, despite the budget for specialist disability services having grown by €1.6 billion since 2020 to over €3.2 billion a year, is worrying. It reflects the difficulty that Ireland and other countries that have publicly-funded health and welfare systems face in getting out in front of demographic trends, such as population growth and increasing longevity. Making politically expedient promises to avoid negative publicity is the easy part. Delivering on them is another matter.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
No action on High Court assessment of needs disability as last government ‘couldn't agree'
The last government did not act on a High Court decision three years ago on assessments of need for children with disabilities because 'there wasn't agreement' on it, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said. In 2022 the High Court ruled that assessments of need should take more than 30 hours, which resulted in the HSE changing its model of assessment. More than 15,000 children have been waiting longer than six months for assessment and 25,000 are expected to be in this situation by the end of the year. Social Democrats acting leader Cian O'Callaghan said the accelerated procedure 'was struck down for a good reason. It consisted of one hour of observed play time and a 30-minute discussion with a parent. READ MORE 'Children were then diagnosed as having a disability but not told which disability they had. It was a completely inadequate box-ticking exercise. Are you telling us that this is a system that you're going to return to, or is your plan to get rid of assessment and need altogether?' he asked Taoiseach Micheál Martin. [ Government 'all talk but no action' on disability assessment backlog, says activist Opens in new window ] Mr Martin said, 'I have no intention of going back on the standing operating procedures' that applied before the High Court ruling. But he said, 'I believe when the High Court makes a decision it is clinicians that should ultimately decide in terms of the nature and type of provision on therapy, medicine or anything. 'The last government did not follow through for different reason. There wasn't agreement in respect of it after the High Court decision.' The Taoiseach said, 'an assessment of evaluation is not a static thing, nor should it be. As a child develops, the child needs ongoing review' and the Government had decided to have a national 'in-school therapy service', a 'red-line' issue for this Government. Mr O'Callaghan said 'that is an astonishing answer'. 'When 15,000 children are waiting for needs assessments 'you haven't got your act together in this because the previous government couldn't agree on what to do'. Mr O'Callaghan said: 'You've been talking around changing the law, hiring more people. But when are you actually going to stop breaking the law?' [ Government to change law in bid to speed up autism and disability assessments Opens in new window ] Accusing Mr O'Callaghan of 'deliberate distortion', the Taoiseach said this Government will deal with the court decision but the previous government had dealt with a lot of other related issues, including a 30 per cent increase in assessments in 2023 and a 65 per cent increase in the first three months of this year compared to last. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Taoiseach had met Cara Darmody on Wednesday morning and 'you gave no commitments'. Mr Martin confirmed he met the teenager on Wednesday morning and 'we discussed all the issues involved and I outlined what the Government is going to do'.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
Government ‘all talk but no action' on disability assessment backlog, says activist
Disability activist Cara Darmody (14) has accused the Government of being 'all talk but no action' after meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Wednesday morning. The secondary school pupil from Co Tipperary started a 50-hour picket outside Leinster House on Tuesday, calling on the Government to address the large number of children awaiting an assessment for a disability or autism for six months or longer. More than 15,000 children are waiting for an assessment of need, but the HSE estimates the number will grow to 25,000 by the end of this year. Just over 24 hours into her protest, Cara said the Government has not committed to any of the main asks of her campaign, which include its declaration of the assessment of need backlog as a national emergency for children. READ MORE 'It's the same as usual. He [Mr Martin] didn't really agree to follow on with any of the asks. He's a lovely guy and I don't doubt his sincerity but it went exactly how I expected it to go. All talk but very little action. 'I don't think that things have changed and I don't think that things are going to change anytime soon. I'm going to keep trying my best to get change.' Despite feeling there has been little progress, Cara said she is confident that she 'can win this issue, especially with the Opposition backing me up last night'. On Tuesday evening the Dáil debated a motion put down by Sinn Féin demanding that the Government takes emergency action. [ Government to change law in bid to speed up autism and disability assessments Opens in new window ] Speaking during the debate, Mr Martin said the issue was not one of resources but one of capacity: 'I think we have to facilitate more recruitment of therapists from overseas, and I think the regulatory body needs to be flexible in that regard.' 'I am in the process of establishing the first ever disability unit within the Department of Taoiseach to troubleshoot and to co-ordinate across all Government departments the provision of services for people with disabilities,' he said. 'The need is increasing all of the time.' [ It's a strange day in the Dáil when a schoolgirl makes the Government squirm with embarrassment Opens in new window ] Cara's father, Mark Darmody, was with her for the meeting with Mr Martin at 9am on Wednesday. 'We've had lots of these meetings before,' said Mr Darmody. 'He had lots of plans, he listened to us, he took on board an awful lot of stuff including setting up a taskforce and all that. But we just didn't leave feeling that he was going to do something urgent.' Referencing Mr Martin's comments on recruitment, Mr Darmody said: 'He has great plans to recruit and all this stuff but it's going to take years to do that. If that happens, children are destined to remain rotting on waiting lists. You might love to know what number before they would declare it a national crisis. 'Unfortunately for him, the numbers are only going one way, so if those numbers hit 25,000 at Christmas I think he's in big trouble.' Asked how the first half of her 50-hour protest has felt, Cara said: 'It has been a long 24 hours. 'I only got around six hours of sleep last night, and that's really bad because I get 10 hours of sleep every night. My dad didn't get any sleep, he was shaking this morning. I'm just over half way through but I'm determined to keep fighting.'
