Ms Yvonne O'Neill:

The year of Covid has slightly complicated what we can interpret from trends. The home support services have increased by about 20% in the levels provided between 2019, 2020 and 2021. As we tilt towards an enhanced availability of services and a more enhanced packages of care for people in the home, we should watch what its impact is for the people choosing. Something we should mention also, in regard to previous discussions here, is that people should have the choice. People will make choices about going into nursing homes. When they do, the law is that the contract is between the resident and the nursing home. How the HSE makes services available and how ourselves and HIQA have oversight is dependent on that law being that the relationship being between the nursing home and the resident. When a person chooses what it is they would like for their next phase of care, what we want to do, as my colleague, Dr. MacLellan, outlined, is provide a level of choice. The trends in applications for nursing home care are complicated by the Covid context so it will probably be next year before we can see how the relationship progresses between the proportion of home support and residential care.