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

I thank the Deputy for raising an issue which is raised continually in the House because of its importance. We know that it is one that needs to be addressed.

We all share the same common objective, namely, improving the quality of life for older people. It is not just older people who need support and services; people who are sick or those with disabilities also need help. The funding available for services for older people stands at almost €740 million this year. It is used to provide a range of services across the community and is focused on ensuring older people have timely access to and are provided with appropriate care and treatment at the lowest level of complexity and as close to home as possible. Home care services are critical in supporting older people to remain in their homes and communities and maintain their independence for as long as possible, which is better for them. As we know, they are happier when they are in their own home.

It also makes sense, as the Deputy has pointed out, to avoid admissions to acute hospitals. Further, many people can be supported at home at a far lower cost than that of residential care. We also know that home care services need to be put in place where residential care is not possible as well.

The HSE’s national service plan for 2016 originally provided for a target of 10.4 million home help hours to support about 47,800 people. It provided for 15,450 home care packages and approximately 130 intensive home care packages for clients with complex needs. A further 60 clients with dementia will be supported with co-funding from Atlantic Philanthropies under the national dementia strategy. This matched levels of provision in 2015. However, and I know the Deputy understands this, services are being stretched by demands from more people with the number increasing weekly and for more hours in the evenings and at weekends, all of which unfortunately cost more. This means that even maintaining services at last year's level would have resulted in service delivery failure this year, which is why we responded by providing an extra €40 million.

While we are saying it is an additional €40 million, it does not necessarily mean there will be additional services and supports. It is to maintain last year's level. This brings the overall budget for home help and home care packages to approximately €339 million, which is not enough, but our A Programme for a Partnership Government commits to increasing that funding year on year. With that funding, the HSE will now provide an additional or extra 133,000 home help hours and 350 home care packages this year. In addition the HSE’s winter initiative plan provides for an extra 950 home care packages with 50 packages coming on stream each week over the winter initiative period.

Community Health Organisation 2, which includes Roscommon, Galway and Mayo, is prioritising home care services to those who are currently in a hospital or in a community hospital step down facility. The HSE is providing a significant level of service for the area and it is projected that the HSE will deliver 1,193 home care packages and about 1.32 million home help hours by the end of the year. I will try to get more of an update in the coming weeks, but last week there were six people registered as requiring home care services waiting to be discharged within Community Health Organisation 2. The applications for all six are being processed by HSE community services at this time.

It is important to emphasise that management currently has a difficulty in that it has to be prudent with resources as demand for the service increases, but it will continue to work to apply available resources to target those with the greatest need most effectively. I do not like to hear that home help hours are being taken away from those who need them. While we most certainly have a difficulty with allocating additional hours as a result of the increase in demand, I do not agree with taking away hours and supports from people who clearly need them and who have been availing of them until now. Without going into the detail now, perhaps we could examine the particular cases raised by the Deputy.

There is no doubt that the resources available for home care are less than we need to meet demand and, for that reason, the programme for Government commits to increasing this year on year. The additional funding this year is €40 million. I hope to increase that further next year.

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