Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply and welcome his commitment to the introduction of a statutory scheme. I hope the Minister can indicate that it will be implemented within a short time. The Minister pointed out, quite rightly, the importance of home support. In too many instances when we make representations on behalf of people who need home support, we are told that while the patient has been approved for support, the service will not be provided until hours become available. We are all well aware that patients are being kept unnecessarily in hospital beds because the supports have not been put in place to allow them to be discharged. Likewise, there are people in nursing homes who would much prefer to be in their home environment with adequate home care support. This is an extremely important scheme and the people delivering it do an exceptionally good job. All of us know there is a desire on the part of people to remain in their homes as long as possible. Additional funding will save the Exchequer and the HSE money in other parts of the health service. As such, I appeal to the Minister to try to provide additional resources so that the time lag between a patient being approved and the service being put in place can be reduced dramatically.

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