Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for sharing those stories. It is important that she shared them on the record of Dáil Éireann because it is important that those types of situations are not allowed to continue. We all hear stories like that. Nonetheless, there is actually more home care taking place. To give the exact position in Cavan, 724 people there are availing of home support services. The waiting list is currently at 146 people and, of those, 26 people on the list have no care and are waiting for their package to start. The remaining 120 people have care but are seeking more care, or perhaps staff are not available.

Joint targets have been set for Cavan and Monaghan and the target set for 2024 is for 608,416 hours of care. This year, we expect the total number of hours to be 662,000, which is 9% above the target. I accept what the Deputy says with regard to the deficits that exist, but this figure suggests 50,000 more hours this year than last year.

The HSE tells us that priority is given to those in the community with acute needs and people waiting in hospitals who want to return home with supports, although the Deputy has listed cases where that has not worked out. While there is a significant level of service provision across the area, demand continues to grow. The HSE recently reported that Cavan and Monaghan had a rolling campaign for the recruitment of healthcare assistants for home support. Since 2021, 88 new healthcare assistants for home support provision have been employed across Cavan and Monaghan and there is now a panel in place for healthcare assistants following interviews in April.

The HSE has assured the Department that it is fully committed to supporting people at home. We are committed to addressing gaps in home support in Cavan and Monaghan and nationally by supporting the recruitment of home support workers within the sector and continuing to deliver on the recommendations of the strategic workforce advisory group on home carers and nursing home healthcare assistants.

See this speech in context