Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It has been brought to my attention. The original allocation for home care packages and home help hours in 2016 for counties Galway and Mayo is in the region of €27.3 million.

Home care services across the country are being stretched by demands from more people and for more hours in the evenings and at weekends, all of which cost more. Activity in the first quarter of 2016 was ahead of the same period in 2015 as efforts continue to alleviate pressure on the acute hospital system. Without additional funding, this could not have been sustained and the allocations for the rest of the year would have been reduced. The Government has been able to respond to this situation by providing an extra €40 million for home care in 2016, of which community health care organisation area 2, which includes Galway and Mayo received almost €5.5 million.

According to the HSE delayed discharges report, as of 27 September 2016 there were 30 delayed discharges in Galway University Hospital. Of these, five people had submitted applications for home care. On 11 October 2016, the HSE reported that this had reduced to 21 cases with two applications being processed for home care.

As part of the winter initiative €1.8 million funding has been made available to provide six new home care packages each week from October to February at Galway University Hospital. This will provide for 114 new home care packages over the winter period. The hospital is also being provided with an average of 16 transitional care bed approvals per week throughout the course of the year.

I am pleased to say that overall funding for services for older people has increased to €765 million in 2017, which is an increase of €82 million. In a situation where demand continues to grow, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, challenges remain in managing home care budgets. However, the increased resources provide additional flexibility to managers who are responsible for meeting these challenges in the different geographic areas within the resources available.

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