Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know it is now 12 noon, but I wish to touch on two things. In the area of home help, the objective is to keep people within their homes for as long as possible. The Minister of State, Deputy McGrath, rightly said that disability should not just be related to health. I share the view that when it comes to supporting older people within their homes, it is not just a health issue.

The national positive aging strategy is the first strategy of its kind to identify that. I look forward to working with every Department next year in moving that strategy forward and identifying how we can help to keep people in their homes. However, obviously home help is one of the biggest elements of that. As was pointed out by Senator Colm Burke in the Seanad last night, there is a complete inconsistency in people being able to access the nursing home support scheme and obviously home help. That is because we do not have the framework. Work to develop a more stabilised framework or a formalised system is already under way. The Health Research Board is preparing a report on the financing and regulation of it. It will look at the regulation in other jurisdictions, the legislative framework, the registration process, the inspection regime, self-assessment, training requirements and the national standards. If we are going to make it work, we need to ensure we have a framework for older people or people with disability who need care. I hope that report will be presented to me by the end of this year and we will get working on it next year.

On budget day we announced €35 million worth of new initiatives. We were very clear that as in previous years, we have not been able to spend all of that. The increase overall is €24.7 million and while some would argue that only €15 million of that is on new developments, the €9.7 million on increasing staffing wages will help us to be able spend the full €35 million or whatever figure we decide into the future as well. Mental Health Reform has identified that we need to inject €35 million every year for five years to fully implement A Vision for Change. The Government fully supports implementing A Vision for Change over that five-year period. However, if we do not plan and make those changes, particularly in the area of staffing, while we can allocate it, we will never be able to spend it.

There were a number of questions earlier about what we were going to do to increase staffing numbers. Thankfully, in line with the other nursing elements, over 90% of the psychiatric nurses coming out of college are getting full-time positions here. However, I am aware that we need to increase that. This year, funding was allocated for 60 new additional training places. That number will increase by 70 again. We hope that in the next four years, that number will increase to 520, which is a 45% increase. Obviously the €35 million and the new developments depend on being able to get those numbers. While I understand the disappointment that it is only €15 million, that is in the context of it being a full €35 million, with the addition of €50 million for a new forensic hospital, which I think we would all agree, is also a significant element of implementing A Vision for Change.