Minister Anne Rabbitte has launched a report on the Neuro-Mapping Project which is a joint partnership between the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Disability Federation of Ireland (DFI) and the Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI).

The Neuro-Mapping Report, which was funded by the Strengthening Disability Fund, describes the breadth of community services across the country that people with neurological conditions can access from voluntary organisations, and identifies a number of joint service initiatives between voluntary organisations and the HSE.

The report highlights that the vast majority of the 800,000 people living with neurological conditions across Ireland, live within the community.

It also shows that there are over 60 community based voluntary organisations supporting those people, providing a wide variety of services in response to their needs.

Service Mapping Template

The service mapping template comprises 10 service categories and 98 service types to describe the provision of services in the community provided by DFI and NAI member organisations.

The Template was developed using design thinking methodology, with input from voluntary sector disability service organisations, so that common language is used to describe the breadth of service provision by voluntary organisations.

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Baseline Mapping

A Baseline Mapping of current service provision by voluntary sector disability service organisations across each CHO was carried out using the service mapping template. This mapping has provided key insights on current service provision by voluntary organisations and indicates the range of voluntary services available across each CHO.

Joint Service Initiatives

The project also captured five examples of joint service initiatives between voluntary providers and the HSE to demonstrate strong existing collaborations.

The five examples give an insight into the types of collaboration that are taking place and they also demonstrate how these partnerships can lead to integration and improvement in service options for people with neurological conditions.

The Next Steps

The Project Partners (DFI, HSE and NAI) have agreed to progress several key actions in the next phase of the project to address the report’s findings, as follows:

• The service mapping template will need to be developed to encompass statutory service provision and establish a common language for all neurological community service provision. It will also be important to assimilate the language used in the mapping template into future service frameworks.
• Engagement with both statutory and voluntary providers is required to understand how neuro-rehabilitation services are delivered on the ground in communities and how voluntary organisations work with each other and HSE services. This will help to provide insight into the variations in the services, and patient pathways across CHOs, as well as the impact of community neuro-rehabilitation teams where these are in place.
• It is also intended to examine the current journey through these services, through the experiences of people with neurological conditions and their families, and this will demonstrate ways to improve signposting to existing supports.

The Project Partners are grateful to all those who contributed to the production of the report.