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

I am most certainly taking everything on board. The Deputy will appreciate that, because it is not demand-led, home care is very much confined to the funding available, which is not enough. On the implementation of a statutory scheme, we need to review the management, operation and funding of home care, which is currently under way. During the course of the year, the Health Research Board was asked to conduct research into how home care is rolled out, the model used and its funding in comparable jurisdictions such as Scotland, Germany and Denmark. A pre-review was given to the Department in the past two weeks or so and we hope that it will be finalised by the end of the year. The review will influence where we go with this and we hope to get working on it early next year. The nursing home support scheme took up on seven years to put together. Obviously, we are not looking at such a timeframe, but a much shorter one. However, this is an extremely complex issue and one that we need to get right.

In the meantime, what is most important is that those who need supports and services receive them. The promise is to increase funding year on year. While being prudent with our resources, we need to ensure we are working with people and not taking away supports from those who already have them. We also need to look outside the Department of Health, something the Department is currently doing. For instance, with the national positive ageing strategy we are not just looking at help and home help hours but at supports such as transport supports that we can provide within the community. All these things help people stay within their homes for longer and give them a better quality of life. This way, they may not need additional home help or supports. The next stage of the national positive ageing strategy will begin early in the new year and will involve engagement from across the board, including community organisations, and not just the Departments. I hope to update the Dáil shortly on the matter.

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