Professor Eamon O'Shea:

I will finish on person-centred care. This goes back to the question of home help hours and half hours. Basic humanity is the essence of person-centred care. It cannot be done in half an hour or an hour. It has to be consistent and reliable. It has to be based on knowledge of the person. These are essentials of a home care system. When people speak about a home care system in terms of just hours, they should not miss the fundamental relationships that are critical to the care process. These underpin the care process.

On the issue of charging and cost sharing, we need to be careful about having cost sharing for community-based care. If we believe home care is the optimal approach, the introduction of cost sharing may incentivise the very opposite of what we want to happen. I ask the committee to be careful when it thinks about cost-sharing. It can have unintended consequences. I favour universality and a bias towards community-based care.

I understand why cost sharing is necessary, but the committee must be careful not to direct the system in an unwanted direction.