Sir, – Further to Sarah Bardon's article on the crisis regarding speech and language therapy services ("More than 13,000 awaiting assessment for speech therapy", August 31st), this is something the Government and HSE have failed to address adequately since the recruitment embargo was first implemented in September 2007.
While 120 new jobs have been promised, these will unlikely be allocated to speech and language therapists alone and will far from meet the demand for employment, considering approximately 120 such therapists qualify every year from Irish universities.
I am one of many such therapists who have emigrated since the 2007 embargo. I currently work on a team of 25 therapists in a UK hospital; four of of us are Irish graduates.
The lifting of the recruitment moratorium in the past two years has only minimally improved employment prospects for speech and language therapists in Ireland.
The central application process used by the HSE means therapists have little opportunity to apply for jobs within their specific area of clinical interest or expertise.
While I look forward to returning home eventually, the constant reports of understaffed and overstretched services mean that for me and many of my colleagues in healthcare, returning to work in Ireland has lost its appeal for the foreseeable future. – Yours, etc,
DEIRDRE LEAVY,
Specialist Speech
and Language Therapist,
Cambridge University
Hospitals Trust.