Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Education – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:00 pm on 25 June 2024.
I am aware of health trusts withdrawing some of their staff from special schools, and that causes me concern. The children and young people are in those schools, and it makes sense for health professionals to come into those facilities. Again, while there is high-level collaboration, we are seeing an outworking that does not reflect the aspirations of the departmental senior team or at ministerial level. That causes me concern. We need to see engagement on it. There are examples of good practice in that area, but we could do so much more, working between the Department of Education and the Department of Health, to try to meet both educational needs and those related to the increasing medical complexities that many children in our school settings now have.