Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over 300 people in Roscommon and Galway have been approved for home care and are waiting to receive it. Some have been waiting up to 18 months. They want to and can be cared for in their own homes, but this can only happen where the care is being provided. They and other families are being let down. I raised the crisis in home care during Leader's Questions last December. At the time, the HIQA report had been published. It concluded that home care is currently not sustainable or meeting people's needs and a complete overhaul was needed.

Since then, in March the Minister of State announced the establishment of the workforce advisory group to look at the crisis in the recruitment and retention of home care workers. It was due to report in September and the report was published last month. During those seven months waiting lists continued to grow and time was wasted because there was nothing new in the issues identified or recommendations made in the report that home care providers and workers could not tell the Minister of State themselves. I said that to the Minister of State. We are now at a point where we need to see action on pay, terms and conditions and promoting roles in home care to resolve the recruitment crisis that continues.

I want to suggest to the Minister of State Roscommon's RHS Home Care services, established in 1996, as a blueprint. It pays a living wage and above to its carers and uncapped travel costs and provides an excellent service to our county. It is those very valued home care workers, including those in RHS Home Care services and further afield, who are still waiting for the €1,000 Covid recognition payment. The Minister of State did not mention that in her contribution. These workers deserve far better and are still waiting almost 11 months after the announcement was made. It is a disgrace when we consider what they did during Covid, especially at the start when they did not have PPE or vaccines. They took their lives in their hands and deserve a lot better.

I met two siblings this week. Their brother, who has a number of health conditions, is in hospital. The hospital told him it would do the paperwork for a home care package but there was not a hope of it being received. That is the situation today regarding home care. We need to fix the issues that are there. We need to stop the reports and financially and otherwise support home care workers who were providing care every day of the week.

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