Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The HSE lost 1.9 million hours in relation to the privatised services. We are told that will not increase next year. Mr. Gloster spent some time telling us about how the demand for home care has grown substantially. How on earth can the reduction make any sense when the demand is growing? There is a knock-on impact on delayed discharges obviously but there is also a knock-on impact on people who have been approved for home care and have not been able to get it because of insufficient staff. In addition, now there is a pause. There is also a knock-on impact of that on frail people at home who end up in ED, particularly at the weekends. Is there any rationale for that kind of approach where there is a limit on home care hours?