Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, and I are keeping in very regular contact with the HSE on this issue because apart from the societal impact of not providing home support and the impact on a family, it can have a significant knock-on effect on hospital admissions, the use of hospital beds and delayed discharges, to use a phrase I do not like. The Minister of State continues to monitor this and work with the HSE to ask that it come up with new and innovative ways to do this.

I need to provide some context. In 2015, we were providing a budget of €34.1 million for home care in community health organisation area 1, CHO 1. That is now €44.3 million. In CHO 2, where it was €30.6 million, it is now €47.6 million. In CHO 7, which I think is the Deputy's area, it was €28.7 million and is now €54.5 million, which is nearly a doubling of the budget. We are substantially increasing funding to every CHO every year. Thankfully, our population is ageing and we need to consider a new scheme to supplement this. The work the Minister of State is doing, which is a part of Sláintecare, on a statutory home care scheme will be key to reforming the delivery of this service.

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