ANSWERS TO WRITTEN QUESTIONS4th Session - 64th General Assembly

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Question No: 126

Asked by: Olive Crane

Answered by: Minister Currie Date: April 9,2014

QUESTION:126) How many children on Prince Edward Island are between the ages of birth and 18 years, whohave special needs? How many children with special needs would require physical therapy betweenthe ages of 0 and 18 years?

Does physiotherapy for children with special needs continue after the age of 6 years?

Why or why not?

ANSWER:Health PEl had adopted the following definition for children with special needs:

Children and youth up to the age of18 years ofage and their families who require significant additional

medical/health, social. environmental, educational support - beyond that which is required by children

in general- to enhance or improve their health, development, learning. quality oflife. participation andcommunity inclusion.

Based on statistics collected by the PEl Education system, it is estimated that there are approximately3100+ children in PEl with a variety of special needs including learning disabilities, medical conditionsand autism. Of these children, it is estimated that approximately 80 would have physical disabilities such

as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy or Spina Bifida. Children with these types of diagnoses often

require physiotherapy. Based on our current data, it is difficult to completely capture children who may

require this as well as other special needs services.

There are currently no physiotherapy services available for children over 6 years of age due to limitedresources. However, a multi-disciplinary provincial committee, that includes health care leaders whoprovide care to children with complex medical needs, has been tasked with developing a short and long­

term action plan that focuses on creating a more effective and efficient system of health care services tobetter support this patient population and their families.

Over the next year, we will use funding recently identified at Health PEl to continue to make strides inimproving access to health care services for our children with complex medical needs.

WRITTEN QUESTIONS1f~l\'T Session - 64th General Assembly

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LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Question No: 127

Asked by: Olive Crane

Answered by: Minister of Health and Wellness, Doug Currie Date: April 9, 2014

QUESTION: In the area of physiotherapy, parents are wondering why their child, whorequires physiotherapy and is under the age of 6 years, only receives the service once ortwice over a 4-8 week period.How many physiotherapists does have Health PEl have island wide that are able toprovide services to special needs children?How many physiotherapists at the QEH Hospital work with children with special needsin the age groups of - age 0-6, 7-12,13-16 and 17-18 year olds?

ANSWER:The number of times a child is seen for physiotherapy is detennined by both the needs of thechild and the amount of available physiotherapy resources. Given the limited resources, theservice, even for those in great need, had been limited to once or twice over a 4-8 week period.There are children on the caseload who are monitored every few months.

Paediatric physiotherapy is a provincial resource implemented in 1987 as 1.0 FTE and based outof the QEH hospital. In 2007, a 0.4 casual position was hired to assist with providing coveragefor children with special needs in the western part of the province and to allow the 1.0 FTE toprovide coverage for the neonatal intensive care unit at QEH as well as children with specialneeds in Queens & Kings counties. In March 2014, a 0.6 was hired to increase services. So theanswer is a total of2 FTEs - 1 pennanent FTE, 0.4 casual FTE and 0.6 temporary FTE.

All peadiatric physiotherapy services are based out of QEH so the answer is 2.0 FTE. There areno physiotherapy services available for children with special needs over the age of 6 years.

However, a multi-discipline provincial committee, that includes health care leaders who providecare to children with complex medical needs, has been tasked with developing a short and long­term action plan that focuses on the creating a more effective and efficient system of health careservices to better support this patient population and their families. Health PEl has also recentlyundergone a process to identify additional funding and we are now prioritizing the areas wheremore services will be added. We will soon be ready to announce a number of new initiatives tosupport Island children with complex medical needs.

WRITTEN QUESTIONS~~, Session - 64th General Assembly

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Question No: 132

Asked by: Olive Crane

Answered by:2014

Ron Doug Currie Date: April 9,

QUESTION: What is the ratio of physiotherapist to the child client receiving theservice? Do these ratios meet the standard practice ratios for physiotherapy?

ANSWER:There are currently> 95 children with special needs on the case10ads of the threephysiotherapists.

There have been no standards developed nationally or provincially for physiotherapist to childclient ratio because there is no one tool that reliably measures the complexity of the child's needsin conjunction with available resources. The variation is tremendous as a situation may be shortterm or life long, the needs may be affected by growth spurts, surgeries, co-morbidities, agerelated transitions (puberty, school, driving, etc.), and supports at home to name a few.

Health PEl has recently undergone a process to identify additional funding and we are nowprioritizing the areas where more services will be added. We will soon be ready to announce anumber of new initiatives to support Island children with complex medical needs.

Question No: 133

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

_ ..... WRITTEN QUESTIONSSession - 64th General Assembly

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Asked by: Olive Crane

Answered by: Minister of Health and Wellness, Doug Currie Date: April 9, 2014

QUESTION: How many children are referred from pediatricians to physical medicineservices per year?Once a child is seen, how many visits per week for therapy would a child receive? Dophysiotherapists do home visits to enable the child and the parent to ensure the therapytaught in the hospital is followed through with in a proper way?

ANSWER:In 2012-2013 there were 147 referrals received by the provincial paediatric physiotherapyservice, 64% or 93 of these were from pediatricians. For the same time frame there were 93referrals received by the pediatric occupational therapy service (Queens county only) and 50% or46 of these were from pediatricians.

Once a child client has been assessed, needs considered and goals developed, the frequency andlocation of visits would be determined based on the available resources. This may varydepending on many factors - complexity of child client's needs, abilities of caregivers, age,timing (growth spurt, etc.) and what the goals are e.g. monitoring and maintenance versus intensetherapy to achieve specific goal.

The child client may be seen at home, in an early child care centre and/or at the local hospital toensure all those folks involved in the care of the child are able to employ handling techniques andstrategies to support the progress of the child client.

Over the next year, we will continue to make strides in improving access to health care servicesfor our children with complex medical needs.