Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Regulation of Home Care Provision: Discussion

9:00 am

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My question is for the HSE. There seems to be broad agreement on the need for regulation, although people might differ on the details of the implementation of regulation. All three bodies have said that regulation is needed. If I understand the HSE correctly, that is under way. However, it needs statutory underpinning. The first of the three issues about which I would like to hear the views of the HSE officials is the question of conditions, pay and retention. Do they agree that the current wage is too low? What does the HSE pay directly employed carers? How does that compare with the private sector wage? Do they agree that there is an issue with retention?

My next question relates to public access. It is obvious that waiting lists are high. Would the witnesses be able to provide some figures with regard to the increases in waiting lists over recent years? I would be particularly interested to hear about the equality or inequality around the country. Is the mismatch between supply and demand growing? How does it fare by geography?

We have heard evidence from the other two bodies with regard to costs and efficiency. It sounds like there are big opportunities to use carers more productively. If we ask a carer to drive a long distance to provide half an hour of care in one house, before asking him or her to drive a further long distance to provide another half an hour of care in another house, that is not a clever use of that person's time. I ask the witnesses to give their views on that statement. Do they agree that we have a big opportunity to get this right? If we use carers more efficiently, as part of that we will make their jobs more rewarding. I imagine it is deeply frustrating for a carer to spend half an hour with someone and then have to drive a long distance to spend another half an hour with someone else. Will the officials give the committee an indication of how much money is required? It has been suggested that €408 million, along with an additional €9 million for the intensive packages, is needed. How much money is required to meet current demand? How much money would be needed in next year's budget to get these waiting lists down to zero, or whatever low amount is a normal amount within the system?

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