Annual Report 2005 - The National Disability Authority
Annual Report 2005 - The National Disability Authority
Annual Report 2005 - The National Disability Authority
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<strong>National</strong> <strong>Disability</strong> <strong>Authority</strong><br />
recommendations in <strong>Disability</strong> and Work – the picture we learn from<br />
official statistics. <strong>The</strong> NDA was subsequently invited to make an oral presentation<br />
to the project team.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Cost of <strong>Disability</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> NDA prepared an analysis of the impact of withdrawal of social welfare and<br />
secondary benefits from people with disabilities, and identified a number of possible<br />
changes that could be made. This work was made available to relevant Government<br />
Departments via NDA’s membership of the Cost of <strong>Disability</strong> Working Group. <strong>The</strong><br />
Working Group’s recommendations informed the Government decision to introduce a<br />
tapered entitlement to retain <strong>Disability</strong> Allowance.<br />
Health<br />
Strategic Review of Services<br />
In Sustaining Progress, there was a commitment requiring the Department of Health<br />
and Children to carry out a strategic review of existing health service provision, with<br />
a view to enhancing health and personal social services to meet the needs of people<br />
with disabilities. <strong>The</strong> NDA made a formal submission to this review in September <strong>2005</strong>.<br />
<strong>The</strong> NDA was also represented on the Review’s sub-group advising on the disability<br />
databases.<br />
Expert Group on Mental Health Policy<br />
<strong>The</strong> Expert Group on Mental Health Policy was established by Government to prepare<br />
the first national mental health policy since Planning for the Future (1984). This was a<br />
commitment in the 2001 <strong>National</strong> Health Strategy “Quality and Fairness”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> NDA was a member of the two sub-committees of the Expert Group: the working<br />
group on Users and Carers and the working group on Mental Health Services for<br />
People with Intellectual <strong>Disability</strong>. <strong>The</strong> NDA’s contribution drew on its earlier work on<br />
mental health including the advice of its Mental Health Advisory Committee, and the<br />
publication Strategic Partnership Guide: Good Practice in Working with People with<br />
Experience of Mental Health Difficulties. <strong>The</strong> Expert Group’s report is to be published<br />
in early 2006.<br />
Oral health and disability<br />
Following a roundtable on oral health and disability in 2004, the NDA and its partners:<br />
the Dublin Dental School and Hospital, Trinity College Dublin and the Dental Health<br />
Foundation launched a joint report Oral Health and <strong>Disability</strong>: <strong>The</strong> way<br />
forward in March <strong>2005</strong>. This report drew on research and the lived and clinical<br />
experiences of people with disabilities, their family members, disability organisations<br />
and oral health practitioners to lay out the road map for change in oral health service<br />
provision. <strong>The</strong> partners prepared a proposal for an Oral Health and <strong>Disability</strong> Task<br />
Force and submitted this to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children in April.<br />
Care for Older People<br />
In April <strong>2005</strong>, the NDA made a submission to the <strong>National</strong> Economic and Social Forum<br />
project team on Care for Older People.<br />
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