What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of early and effective support to develop language and communication among deaf children, including auditory verbal therapy, to effectively maximise the public investment already being made in newborn hearing screening and hearing technology?
The Welsh Government ‘Talk with Me’ programme exists to support the Speech Language and Communication (SLC) development of all children, with a particular emphasis on universal, population and targeted support. One of the aims is to ensure the right children are seen by the right person in the right place at the right time: meaning that children who need to access more specialised support will be able to do so more effectively. This builds upon the Newborn Hearing Screening Wales programme delivered by Public Health Wales which is offered to all babies shortly after they are born. It aims to identify hearing loss so that support and information can be provided from an early stage. We are also looking at ways of using technology to improve access. Work is underway to establish a national IT solution, but in the meantime all services have tools in place to support patient access to services.
Speech and Language Therapists in Wales have worked to develop a number of evidence-based care pathways to ensure quality and consistency of treatment and support throughout Wales. The Deafness pathway includes a summary of the evidence base for a range of speech, language and communication approaches, including auditory verbal therapy. Specialist Speech and Language Therapists working with a child and their family are required by their professional Code of Conduct to choose the right intervention for each individual child, based on the quality of evidence, situation and needs of the individual.
The Welsh Government is committed to investing to support health professional education and training in Wales. £283m is being invested in 2024/25 for education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales. There is additional funding to support specialist post-registration training. This was £2.1 million in the HEIW 2024/25 Education and Training Plan. Health boards determine their own priorities for training for their staff and any service provision. Decisions regarding education and training for the next financial year are currently in progress.