Dr. Kathleen MacLellan:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. I assure the committee of the urgency, the seriousness and the priority that the Department takes in this regard. There is full commitment to working to the programme to transition those living in nursing homes whose will and preference is to move out from those congregated settings. As Deputy Cairns said, we are starting with 18 people this year, but that number reflects the funding committed to the process. We will, however, learn significant lessons from moving these 18 people. We expect and anticipate that what we learn in this regard will give us the opportunity to accelerate the programme and move people out more quickly from nursing homes. We are committed to providing as many supports as we can in the community to support people in their homes and such provision could be undertaken through the development of the statutory home care scheme, investment in intensive in-home support packages and the ongoing decongregation programme.

We see and accept in respect of the Ombudsman’s report the importance and urgency regarding the people involved being able to provide us with information concerning their will and preferences and then determining what we can do to support them to move out. The mapping exercise the HSE is commencing will be critical to this aspect. It will provide us with the information we require to enable us to plan to support the individuals concerned as much as we can and as quickly as we can in the next short while. I again assure the Deputy of the priority the Department is placing on this work programme.