Ms Sarah Cooney:

As Dr. MacLellan mentioned, we have a programme of work with the ESRI this year that will culminate in the publication of three reports this year. The first is on demand for a home care scheme, looking at the parameters that may be involved. The second is using the ESRI SWITCH model to examine the possible cost of a scheme and taking on board full Exchequer funding and various models that may include user contribution. A third report is to come out in the third quarter which will examine the cost of non-acute care in the community, including home care and other elements such as long-term residential care and primary care. That will enable decisions on the financing model. As Dr. MacLellan and Ms O'Neill mentioned, a large piece of work is being done this year around a reformed model of service delivery. As part of that, we are testing what might be included in a statutory home care scheme, in particular looking at the data that comes out of interRAI. As Ms O'Neill said, approximately 130 assessors will be put across the community in the community health networks to get national coverage. We will examine the data that comes out of that and try to map the needs of our population against that and the services they may require. It will also examine broader elements, including the clinical governance and other models that may be needed to support this in the community, and look at areas such as the evaluation and the monitoring of the home first approach. We are also working with our colleagues in Sláintecare around the enhanced community care and the roll-out of the community health networks which will provide the architecture and the primary care team that will be needed to support this broader model of care to support older people and other people with care needs in their homes. A significant amount of work is ongoing this year and we hope to have the evaluation and data throughout this year and moving into 2022.