Department welcome decision by St John of God Community Services to continue providing publicly funded services

Minister O'Gorman & Minister Rabbitte welcome decision by St John of God Community Services to continue providing publicly funded services

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman and Minister of State for Disability, Anne Rabbitte, today welcomed the agreement reached between St John of God Community Services (SJOG CS) and the HSE that protects current intellectual disability and mental health services to 8,000 children and adult service users.

St John of God Community Services has now withdrawn notice of its previous decision to exit from service provision. Most importantly, the organisation has ensured that those in receipt of services, their families and its staff were the first to be notified of this development.

The HSE has worked intensively with St John of God Community Services over several years to address financial and operational challenges in its services. Over recent weeks, the HSE has reaffirmed a strong financial commitment to supporting the organisation in delivering services. Significant work on a Sustainability Impact Assessment process has provided a pathway to sustainable high quality services that meet service user needs. The HSE, backed by relevant Departments, remains committed to following through on the outcome of this process and funding is available to meet in-year requirements, enhance services and support related reforms.

Speaking on this positive outcome, Minister of State Anne Rabbitte, said,

"I am delighted that this decision by St John of God Community Services provides much needed assurance and clarity on its future for service users, families and staff. The Service will continue to provide its full range of publicly funded supports at all existing locations. This positive outcome will be a relief for many who were anxiously awaiting developments. The collective commitment of the HSE and St John of God Community Services to meeting the needs of service users has resulted in this positive outcome and I am confident of continued progress in addressing core issues over the coming months."

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman, said,

"I commend the HSE and St John of God Community Services on a reaching a resolution which all parties agree is in the best interests of service users. St John of God Community Services, like other providers, are an essential partner to the HSE in delivering publicly funded services. We know that some organisations are in a weakened financial state as a result of complex historical arrangements, compounded by current and emerging service delivery costs and pressures. My Department is working to deliver innovative solutions to these systemic sustainability challenges, through continued engagement with the HSE, service providers, their staff and service users. Our commitment to people with disabilities has been demonstrated through increasing levels of funding for specialist services, with a record €2.9 billion being provided in 2024, including €74m under the first year of the Disability Action Plan."

Note for Editors:

• SJOG CS is a legal entity within the St John of God Hospitaller Services Group, and is funded under Section 38 of the Health Act, 2004 to provide services on behalf of the HSE to over 2,500 children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

• Disability services are funded through the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the organisation is also funded through the Department of Health to deliver mental health community services.

• It is the second largest provider of disability services in the state and operates 96 residential centres, which are registered with HIQA.

• Notably, the HSE's financial projections indicate that the service provider will achieve a breakeven position in 2024, as it has done every year since 2019.

• On February 16th, SJOG CS notified the HSE, staff and service users that it intended to withdraw from service provision on behalf of the state, due to financial sustainability challenges.

• Following high-level engagement between the HSE and SJOG CS, an agreement was reached and the organisation withdrew its notice to exit from service provision on 26th February. The agreement reached includes a process to arrive at a time-bound implementation plan for the Sustainability Impact Assessment Report; a commitment to the in-year funding requirements for 2024; and a timeframe within which final decisions will be made about the issues arising from the historical deficit in SJOG CS.

• It is recognised that the financial challenges facing the voluntary sector are highly complex, arising from both historical issues around funding arrangements as well as emerging service challenges due to changing profile of user need, higher safety and quality standards, and general demographic pressures.

• The Government's objective is to ensure appropriate funding is available to give stability to voluntary organisations, in the interests of meeting the needs of people with disabilities on an equitable basis across the country.

• The Disability Capacity review in 2021 was an important step in mapping out and acknowledging the levels of unmet need in the sector. The recently published Disability Action Plan sets out our ambition for reform and expansion of disability services over the next three years.

• Government has demonstrated its commitment to people with disabilities through increasing levels of funding, with a record €2.9 billion being provided in 2024 for specialist services, including €74m under the first year of the Disability Action Plan. This represents a 10% increase in funding for the disability sector for 2024 (compared to 2023), which our Department will look to further increase in the Budget 2025.

• The HSE will identify systemic learnings from the SIA process undertaken with SJOGCS and continue to work with stakeholders to deliver more efficient and effective models of service delivery.