Ms Kate Killeen White:

On the home support piece, carer capacity does remain a challenge but there are a number of initiatives under way to recruit into home support. The HSE conducts a local, rolling recruitment campaign across all of the health regions to recruit into the sector. There is also a number of very dedicated initiatives to enhance recruitment into the sector. At a national level, a spotlight has been created and is live on the HSE career hub, highlighting the very valuable role of home support workers, the training required and the benefits associated with working with the HSE. It also offers contact details for the local home support offices across the regions. In addition, a career pathway for home support is now live on the HSE career hub platform. A national job specification and eligibility criteria has been created and is pending approval. Standardisation of the job spec and eligibility criteria will support role clarity and streamline the recruitment processes associated with home support. Finally, work is also under way on finalising a home support best practice guide to enhance recruitment and entice people into the sector with those career options available to them. I could not agree more that this is a very valuable role and we have to do all we can to continue to support recruitment into the area.