Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to comment on the investment in health by the Government. I will focus on the areas of older persons and mental health services.

Ensuring adequate and appropriate supports for older persons' health and well-being has been a priority for me since I took office. There should be no doubt that investment in social care older persons' services has been a major priority for this Government. The budget has risen from €1.97 billion in 2020 to just over €2.6 billion next year. According to the World Health Organization, WHO, Ireland had the highest life expectancy in the EU. It is also the first country in the world to secure age-friendly status.

Next year will see the largest allocation ever for older person services, representing an overall increase of approximately 32% since 2020. Every day, a wide range of core services continue to be provided for older people across the country. This includes home support, day care, community supports in partnership with voluntary groups, intermediate care, as well as long-stay residential care when remaining at home is no longer feasible. The nursing homes support scheme, or fair deal, was designed to protect and support vulnerable older people to ensure equal access to nursing home care based on what they could afford. This gives important certainty to older people and their families.

In 2023, I secured a funding increase of €40 million for the scheme and for 2024, a further increase of €35.6 million. This funding will support nursing homes to maintain services and to manage inflationary increases.

I announced in budget 2024 the establishment of a dedicated new €10 million fund to support private and voluntary nursing homes with HIQA regulation and compliance measures. My officials are working on the details of the scheme which will be announced shortly. That is bringing investment to nursing homes to an additional €45.6 million for 2024.

This is in addition to the substantial support the Government has provided to the private and voluntary nursing home sector over the course of the pandemic. Over €151 million has been provided through the temporary assistance payment scheme. The Government continues to provide free PPE and oxygen to private nursing homes, costing approximately €77 million to date. A €10 million temporary inflation payment scheme was established last year. It was extended twice and a short-term extension to this scheme is currently under review.

Across the country, our HSE community nursing units play a vital role in the provision of long-term care. The Government is committed to continued investment in healthcare infrastructure which supports the highest quality care for our older population. This investment includes the community nursing unit programme, which was launched to ensure that up to 90 of our public community nursing units, CNUs, would be refurbished, rebuilt or replaced to ensure the best quality environments for our older people. On Monday, I was honoured to open the new Joe and Helen O'Toole CNU in Tuam along with the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. It was fantastic to see such a state-of-the-art facility.

The delivery of home care continues to increase each year. In 2020 some 17.5 million hours were delivered. In 2024 we expect to deliver 22 million hours of home support. This is more than has ever been delivered before. The Government has prioritised home support and provided over €228 million in additional funding since 2020. The budget for home support today stands at €723 million. I know people will point to the waiting lists, with approximately 3,000 people funded for home care but only receiving a partial package and about 3,000 people funded for home care but we do not have the carers to provide it. It is important to point out that the budget is there to fund those 6,000 people. The HSE provides approximately 40% of home support hours directly. Of the posts funded in 2023 for home care, 55 are still outstanding and still being recruited. Recruitment also continues among private and voluntary providers who deliver approximately 60% of home support.

Dementia continues to be a priority for the Government. In budget 2024 I announced that a minimum of 18% of all new home support hours are now ring-fenced for people with dementia. I also announced €300,000 new funding for weekend activity clubs for people with young onset dementia - working with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland - which will provide social activity and peer support.

It is the Government’s stated policy to support older people to age in place for as long as possible. We know that our community services play a vital role in helping to keep older people well, out of hospital and living in their own homes and communities for longer. Over many years, both day care and the meals on wheels services have proven to be important components of the community services offered to older people, particularly in rural communities.

We are continuing to build on recent investment to support the 323 HSE-funded day centre services, a further 316 funded meals-on-wheels services - last year almost 2.7 million meals were provided through this service - and, in collaboration with the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland, 49 dementia-specific day centres.

I will move on to mental health because my time is short. I was pleased to announce funding in budget 2024 of €1.68 million for our supported care homes. These are unique to the south-east community region and play an incredibly important role in enabling people to live independently for longer. Budget 2024 brings funding to mental health services to nearly €1.3 billion for next year. This year’s budget focuses on further developing youth mental health. Specific funding has been provided for the recruitment of 68 posts associated with child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. The extra staff for CAMHS will support the implementation of the recommendations of key reports. I am delighted to have secured funding for an exciting new initiative, the youth mental health app. We know young people sometimes approach services differently and can be more likely to engage with digital or online supports. This app will help direct young people to the services they need.

Budget 2024 also provides funding for the development and provision of a new central referral mechanism for services for children, to be established on a pilot basis within the HSE. This referral mechanism will allow the HSE to appropriately triage referrals to specialist services, including CAMHS, to ensure that no child ends up on the wrong waiting list for the care that they need and deserve. This model, which is sometimes referred to as "No Wrong Door", is a key priority for me.

In line with this, I am pleased to confirm the continued roll-out of suicide bereavement liaison officers in budget 2024, as well as specific funding next year for the further national roll-out of the Traveller counselling service.

I look forward to delivering on the commitments of this budget and continuing to drive real and tangible improvements across our mental health and older person services.

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