Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Arrangements for home care have developed over the years with a significant local focus and there is considerable variation in accessing services in different parts of the country. It is accepted there is considerable demand for home support services over and above the existing service levels, so the Deputies have hit the nail on the head with their main points.

A Programme for a Partnership Government includes a commitment to increase funding for home support services and, as I mentioned, the Department is actively engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in regard to funding of older people's services in 2019, including home support services. The Department is actively engaging on this issue and we are listening to the concerns. My Department is currently engaged in a detailed process to determine what type of home care support scheme is best for Ireland. I am happy to say we reached an important milestone in the development of a new support scheme in June, when we published the report of the findings of the public consultation on home care. The consultation process took place last year and approximately 2,600 submissions were received. The report includes a number of interesting points made by respondents in regard to innovative new models and it is available on the Department's website. The findings will now be used to help to inform the design of the new home care scheme.

In the meantime, the Department and the HSE are continuing to improve the existing services, including in 2018 through the introduction of a single funding stream for home support services. This new approach is providing significant benefits, including making services easy to understand, streamlining the application and decision making processes and facilitating service users to move to changed levels of service as their needs change, without the need for an additional application process.

However, there is also another reality, which is that there has been a 12% growth in the overall population, a 59% growth in the population aged over 65 and a 95% growth in the population aged over 85. A classic example of what we are trying to do is that the HSE has undertaken a new tender for home care, which is expected to run from 1 September 2018 until December 2020. A list of 48 approved providers is available for the provision of home care support services across the nine CHO areas.

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