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

As a fellow public representative in Meath, I can confirm that this is an issue that comes across my desk on a weekly if not a daily basis and not just because of my role as Minister of State with responsibility for older people.

To put the issue into context, the overall funding for services for older people this year will be €765 million. This includes additional funding for home care services which is aimed at allowing people to continue to live in their own homes, in their communities and with their families and also at facilitating the discharge of older people from hospitals. In this context, the winter initiative plan for 2016 and 2017 has yielded a significant reduction in delayed discharges with the numbers falling from a record high of 832 in October 2014 to just 436 at the end of last year.

The HSE’s national service plan for this year provides for a target of 10.57 million home help hours to support about 49,000 people. It also includes the provision of 16,750 home care packagesand190intensive home care packages for clients with complex needs, includingclients with dementia who will be supported with co-funding from Atlantic Philanthropies under the Irish national dementia strategy.

It is fair to say that this represents a significant increase on home care in comparison to last year’s service plan, which had a target of 10.4 million hours home help and 15,450 home care packages. This year's plan will see home help hours increase by 170,000 and home care packages by 1,300.

Despite this significant level of service provision, the demand for home care continues to grow. It is important to note that the allocation of funding for home care across the system, though significant, is finite and services must be delivered within the funding available. The level of activity and associated costs must be managed in each of the nine community healthcare organisations, CHOs, in a way that ensures that those with the greatest needs are supported and that the overall expenditure on home care services by the HSE does not exceed the available funding.

County Meath, as Deputy Byrne knows, is part of CHO Area 8.

The 2017 service plan provides for 1,260,000 home help hours and 2,373 home care packages in community health care organisation area 8, including 114 home care packages which, as Deputy Byrne stated, have been allocated to support the acute hospital system as part of the winter initiative. Applications are processed and supports are allocated promptly in line with the greatest need. Where resources are not immediately available, the approved applicant's name is added to the waiting list until such time as home care hours become available.

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