Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an important issue for everyone in the House and the people we represent. A key focus of the Sláintecare reform programme is recognising, facilitating and enabling older people to age well at home and in their communities for as long as possible. Therefore, improving access to home support is a priority for the Government. Since budget 2021, we have provided approximately €230 million in additional funding for that service. The preliminary data indicates that more than 22 million hours of home support were provided in 2023, which was more than had ever been delivered and exceeded the HSE’s target for the year. While that is important, it requires good management, and the Deputy correctly highlighted some of the difficulties TDs, including me, hear about in their constituencies. It is important we have a continual focus on the management processes of these initiatives.

The HSE has reported that in Cork and Kerry, there are currently 8,293 people receiving the home support service with over 33,000 hours of support being provided. Within Cork Kerry Community Healthcare, I am told 75% of the service is provided directly by the HSE, with 25% delivered by external providers.

The Deputy's question is about the process by which the request is advised to private providers in cases where the HSE cannot provide it. I am told that the HSE advises that when a request for service is received, its priority is to identify availability to deliver that support and that a request for home support will always be sent to private providers if the HSE does not have available staff to allocate to the service. The Deputy correctly asks whether that is done within a day, a week or six weeks, because all of that is time mounting for a family with somebody who needs very specific care. I am told from follow-up queries to the Department, which I am grateful to it for, that this can happen on the same day but it typically happens within the week. The HSE provides CHO-specific lists of approved providers and asks clients to indicate first if they have a preference. If they do not, the HSE issues an email alert to all providers in that CHO and the first one to indicate availability gets the work. That is a little further clarity on this.

It is important to point out that both the HSE and private providers are currently experiencing similar recruitment and retention issues for staff. It is a priority for the Government to try to bring more people into this country to address the shortage of care workers. It is a key challenge for the Department of enterprise to make sure that can happen and indeed for the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, with apprenticeships and bringing people into different pathways so that we can meet the needs. Efforts are continuing in Cork Kerry Community Healthcare to increase capacity by recruiting staff. Since the introduction of the current recruitment pause, derogation has been sought and granted for 49 health care assistant staff, but of course those people have to be available to be able to be hired.

I have been told this evening by the Department, and am grateful for its answers to my follow-up queries, that September 2023 figures show there were 1,495 HSE home support staff in the Cork-Kerry area in CHO 4, with 929 whole-time equivalents. I am told that is the highest of all the CHOs. That is to provide a little extra clarity to the Deputy. This is a question of management and quick responses to constituents. There is no doubt that we need to continue to rely on private providers where we are not able to meet the need in the HSE but those private providers have an obligation to respond quickly and efficiently and to make sure the care is met as soon as may be.

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