To ask the Minister of Health to detail any actions his Department is taking to improve waiting times for occupational therapy appointments in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust area.

PHA continue to work with SPPG and Trusts to ensure Allied Health Profession (AHP) services including Occupational Therapy deliver a range of support that reflects the needs of the population of NI and is aligned to evidence based practice.

Work is underway between SPPG and PHA to separate data on waiting times for under and over 18-year olds across elective AHP waiting times including Occupational Therapy. This will help provide a better understanding of the specific waiting times across CYP and adult elective AHP services to help identify demands and trends across each of the Trusts including SET.

Strategies being used by South Eastern Health and Social Care trust to help reduce waiting times are:

waiting list validation

monitoring capacity and demand of complex cases

proactive recruitment

utilising bank and agency staff to cover long tern vacancies or absences as appropriate

reviewing new ways of working and assuring appropriate skill mix to maximise efficiency