Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Those are two hospitals where there were no delayed discharges. As a result of the increased investment, extra home care packages are available to Cork University Hospital and other hospitals. In a situation where demand continues to grow, challenges remain in managing home care budgets. Of that there is no question. The additional money that has been invested gives greater flexibility to local managers to manage the home care budget in the interests of those who need it most. Clearly, prudent management of available resources is still needed but there is that increased investment. The revised level of service, for example, that has been provided this year is 10.57 million home help hours and 16,450 home care packages. That will increase by a further 300 in 2017. That is not to say that there are not perhaps individual cases such as the one the Deputy described where it can be difficult to access home care packages, but there is increased investment, increased availability and greater flexibility for the managers to make the most appropriate decisions for the people who need home care packages.

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