Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith for raising this matter. The Government is committed to promoting care in the community so that people can continue to live with confidence, security and dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. To support this, we plan to establish a new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home care services. I know the Deputy supports that move and the Department is currently engaged in a detailed process to progress this issue. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, recently outlined how we have received over 2,600 submissions as part of that consultation. They are currently being collated and a report will go to the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, the Department and HSE are continuing efforts to incrementally improve our existing services. As detailed in its national service plan, the HSE is streamlining home care services by moving towards a single funded service. This combines the funding for home help and standard home care packages which will operate as a single home support service from this year onwards.

Home support services are a particular area of focus in budget 2018, with an additional €18.25 million allocated.

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The additional resources bring the budget for the direct provision of home support services to €408 million, delivering over 17 million home support hours to 50,500 people. This compares with an estimated 16.34 million hours delivered to 50,000 people last year. In addition, 235 intensive home care packages will provide 360,000 home support hours for people with complex needs. 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 is finite and services and the HSE must distribute it across the CHOs.

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