Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise the matter of home help services. In my region of Cork and Kerry, we have had a major issue with getting home help for people. This has manifested itself in a number of ways for people coming out of acute hospitals and going home. They are not able to return home unless some form of home care is provided for them for a number of hours. Going back three, four or five years ago, we may have raised the question of home help but the problem then was that there was no funding for it. There has been a large increase in funding but it has not led to an increase in the amount of home help hours available for patients and families.

Policies have changed over years to provide people with support and facilities within communities so they can live for the longest possible period in their homes. Every family benefits enormously from home help services and my family is no different; the practitioners of home help involved with my family's care are second to none. They have been absolutely excellent. Every family is seeking home care, but some people have been waiting a long number of weeks, leading to a delay in discharge from an acute hospital, which causes more problems for the health services. Any cost-benefit analysis of the home care packages or home help services indicates it is extremely good value for money. It is a win-win for everybody.

How are we getting from a position where funding is available to ensuring there is a service on the ground? That is about delivery of service, and it is very important we get to the bottom of that. I have spoken on a daily and weekly basis with the people who provide home care assistance, and they do excellent work. Some have told me they are contracted for 15 or 16 hours and would gladly take more but they are not getting them.

What is causing the blockage in the system? If new staff cannot be recruited to provide the care, why does the Government not look at the home care assistance that is already in place to see whether additional hours can be accommodated? Some of the providers have told me they would be delighted to provide more hours. In some instances, where families are trying to expedite the process, they are looking to people locally who are already working as home care assistants and might be able to provide the service. However, they are being told that although the local providers would love to take on the additional work, they are given only a certain number of hours and do not have the capacity to offer any more.

The HSE needs to look at what the stumbling blocks are in terms of delivering this service, which is vitally important and gives huge value for money. Keeping people in their own homes is the most important issue and it can be done by managing the home care assistance scheme in an imaginative way and ensuring there is delivery for people locally.

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