Disability Federation of Ireland Newsletter August 2008

DFI is very conscious of the deep concerns which member organisations have expressed to us on the issue of the introduction of Service Level and Grant Aid Agreements at our meeting on the 14th May and otherwise. We are keeping these to the fore in our ongoing work in this area. As well as being active with the HSE through correspondence, discussions and meetings we have also been working closely with the Federation of Voluntary Bodies and the Not for Profit Business Association. Allied to that we, through the Wheel, have raised these issues with the wider voluntary and community sector who will also be impacted and we have, also raised these concerns through the Social Partnership process.

We recently met a number of times with the HSE Disability Division on the issue of the draft Service Level and Grand Aid Agreements. At these meetings DFI has pressed on a number of issues that it believes are central to the implementation of these new Agreements. These include the need for clarity around the distinction between Section 38 and Section 39 services and their reflection in the Agreements, the need to provide understandings/protocols to support organisations to understand and comply with what is required of them by the HSE in the implantation of the Agreements, the need for the HSE to commit to developing the capacity of organisations, and the need to acknowledge and respect the fact that voluntary disability organisations continue to be “partners” / “allies” to the HSE in the development of health and personal social services to people with disabilities and in that regard we continue to bring significant resources beyond HSE funding.

At present the HSE is proposing that both Agreements will comprise of a set of standard clauses and a number of schedules. As part of DFI discussions with the HSE on this issue we are proposing three additional Parts to the Agreements:

• Part Three: Understandings/protocols to be developed with the disability sector on the standard clauses and schedules, and make this part of the signed Agreement.
• Part Four: Agree with the disability sector the measures to be undertaken to develop the capacity of voluntary disability organisations to comply with these Agreements.
• Part Five: Commit, with the disability sector, to a two year agreed time frame for implementation of these initial Agreements where learning can take place prior to reviewing the overall terms and operations for any further Agreements beyond that timeframe.

We understand that the HSEs disability division time frame is to bring a limited number of text changes to the HSE National Steering Group on the Agreements in September and to conclude discussions with the disability sector in relation to the process around the Agreements in the Autumn. We will continue to work on these Agreements and to keep you updated as it is critical to get them right for all concerned from the start.

John Dolan
CEO