John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy McGettigan very much for raising this important matter, to which I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Health. Improving access to home support is a priority for the Government. The overall budget for home support in 2025 is circa €838 million. This is the largest allocation ever for home support. It is an increase of nearly €122 million on the previous year and an increase of over 70% when compared to the 2020 budget of €487 million. We are on track to exceed the target of 24 million home support hours, excluding complex home support, for this year. At the end of September, we delivered 1.3 million more hours than by the end of September 2024. We have already exceeded the year-end target to support over 60,000 people at any one time.

Under budget 2026, the HSE will be funded to increase the target to €26.7 million next year. In the Clare and Limerick integrated healthcare area, at the end of September 2024 the HSE reported that 1.034 million hours of home support had been delivered. This is 2.1% ahead of the target for the year to date, and nearly 48,000 more hours than the number of hours delivered in the same period last year, which is an increase of nearly 5%. However, although supply of home support hours has increased, the waiting list does remain persistent in some parts of the country, including County Clare. The HSE reports that, as of September 2025, the waiting list in County Clare stood at 340 people. Some 93 people are waiting for their home support package to commence, while the other 247 people were waiting for receipt of additional home support hours.

Where there are waiting lists for home support, priority is given to those in the community with acute needs and those assessed and waiting in acute hospitals who are able to return home with support.

Higher waiting lists are known to be directly related to the availability of carers in the region. The Government has recognised the importance of addressing recruitment and retention for the sector and is continuing to work to deliver on the recommendations of the strategic workforce advisory group on home carers and nursing home health care assistants.

The HSE has also reported that it is carrying out regional rolling recruitment campaigns in line with the pay and numbers strategy across the health regions. A number of initiatives are under way to focus on the recruitment and retention of HCAs to provide home support in areas where additional home support staff are required. Additionally, at a national level the HSE has developed a HCA career hub spotlight piece which highlights the role of HCAs who provide home support, the training required and the benefits associated with working for the HSE. It also offers contact details for local home support services as well as information on how to join the career hub to receive job updates.

The Minister of State with responsibility for older people and housing, Deputy O'Donnell, is fully committed to addressing waiting lists for home support, with a focus on those regions that are disproportionately affected. The Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has specified that home support waiting lists must be addressed through the HSE's upcoming national service plan.

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