Ms Yvonne O'Neill:

The rural-urban issue affects every CHO area. Even within the area the Deputy represents there would be quite a high number of PA hours relative other CHOs, but that probably does not reflect the fact that in certain pockets, because of distances and rurality, there would be lower levels of service. Some of that has to do with the way in which we can employ people with the agencies providing the services or how the individuals who are employing directly can get people. It is about the market for PA providers. Some of it relates to the rural-urban aspect. That sort of postcode lottery is of equal concern to us. There is certainly no lack of motivation in the work that has been stood up now to try to address that as part of the standardised definition and the standardised assessment and access. Where we can identify those rural-urban aspects and how they are being negatively affected, we may have to put in some additional compensatory aspects in the context of distance to travel.

That issue is coming up more generally in relation to home support and other types of services which involve distance and travel. The work that is intended to progress the standardised definition and standardised access will begin to flush out some of those issues.