Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Currently, there are over 6,000 people across the State waiting on home care support. It is an unacceptable situation. The crisis is getting worse and worse. In October 2021, 4,825 people were awaiting home care. In July of this year, there were 5,312. According to a reply to a recent parliamentary question I submitted, it is now at 6,255.

We as a party have been warning for a number of years about a looming crisis within the home care system. In responses to parliamentary questions I submitted, the Government acknowledged the demand for home care support has grown considerably over the past number of years and that factors such as the contracts of employment and employment terms and conditions being offered are a factor in the recruitment challenges faced by the sector. If the Government knows what the challenges are, why are they not being addressed?

The HSE is employing over 1,000 fewer home care assistants now than it was in 2017. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have failed to plan for proper home care to look after those in need and this failure is putting older people into hospitals and nursing homes when they should be cared for in their own homes. The lack of community care alternatives has left thousands in hospitals. Some cannot avail of early release from hospital because they have nowhere to go. When they go home, they have no one to look after them. Maybe they live alone or they live with an elderly spouse or sibling.

What we need is a pay agreement for the sector and the Government needs to make this happen. We need a proactive strategic approach to workforce planning across health and social care.

The Government must advance vital regulation for the home care sector and should make this legislation a priority. It must establish the promised commission on care to kick-start the modernisation of social care arrangements.

I will raise the home care cash grant with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. I raised this on Questions on Policy or Legislation a few weeks ago. This places the entire onus on older people or their spouses to advertise for carers, to recruit them, to ensure they are adequately trained, to ensure that all aspects of the employee's entitlements are adhered to such as PAYE, leave and work permits, where applicable, and to include this on their home insurance. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, suggested on that occasion that I was confusing this with the personalised budgets. I assure the Minister of State I am not. There is a home care cash grant. I sent the Minister of State information on this after that Questions on Policy or Legislation session and I am awaiting a reply. It shows exactly the correspondence from the HSE to the person in question, of course with the person's permission, and it is referred to as the home care cash grant. It is used by the HSE in some areas. It is not appropriate. It is not fair on the older people. It is a danger. I have outlined the issue and I would appreciate a response to it.

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