To ask the Minister of Health to detail the capacity level that respite and daycare services for learning disabled adults are operating at, broken down by constituency.

Information regarding service provision is currently being collected by the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) to support the remobilisation of services. The current capacity levels regarding respite and day care services are not available broken down by constituency, however the Learning Disability data on the DoH website provides information regarding current service provision/capacity levels in terms of daycare and respite/short breaks per Trust.

As of May 2022, the Department’s Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) receive fortnightly updates from each Trust on progress towards the full remobilisation of adult day care, respite/short breaks and transport. Data across all relevant Programmes of Care is collated by SPPG to assist with the development of a regional consistent approach. Data is baselined against service provision in February 2020, which is defined as pre-pandemic capacity. Data across all Programmes of Care is analysed with the data for Learning Disability currently being published monthly on the Department of Health website as noted below:

https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/articles/remobilisation-learning-disability-services

There is a continued focus within Trusts to remobilise day care services, however there is a cohort of service users still not receiving adult day care or receiving a partial service. It is regretable that services have not yet been fully restored to pre pandemic levels and I sincerely apologise to those individuals, families and carers. Service remobilisation will continue to be an area of focus.

A percentage of service users and carers have chosen not to return to day care for a variety of reasons. Trusts continue to engage with those service users who have chosen not to do this to ensure their needs continue to be met through alternative service pathways, such as day opportunities whilst advising that the option of day care remains available to them.

Aligned to this process, SPPG engage in performance meetings with Trusts to discuss any noted barriers to full day care, respite/short break service remobilisation and to agree mitigating actions to support continued progress towards full remobilisation. Furthermore, I have committed to issuing periodic communication to MLAs to outline the progress made by Trusts towards a return to full service remobilisation.