Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

On my behalf and that of the Minister for Health and Children, I thank Senator Leyden for raising this matter on the Adjournment.

Responsibility for human resource planning rests with the chief executive officer, CEO, of each health board. Each CEO in managing the work force in his or her region is responsible for determining the appropriate staffing mix and the precise grades of staff to be employed in line with service plan priorities, subject to overall employment levels remaining within the approved regional employment ceiling.

Recent years have seen dramatic changes in both the concept and practice of services for older people and enormous strides have been made and continue to be made in developing a comprehensive, community-based service that is integrated with other health services. The shift in the delivery of services from predominantly hospital-based care has been extremely successful and undoubtedly the quality of care for older people has been enhanced by this development.

While we all realise that the economic situation facing us is not as vibrant as we have been used to over the last number of years, I assure the Senator that the issues surrounding older people and their welfare have not been ignored by this Government. Without wishing to burden the House with figures, I will give a brief summary of how some of the additional money for services for older people was spent this year. In 2004, a total of €9.497 million in additional revenue funding was allocated to services for older people. This funding is being used for a variety of services including home help services, nursing home subvention scheme, support to carers, continuation of the elder abuse programme, support to voluntary organisations, aids and appliances, development of dementia services and funding of day care centres. Since 1997, more than €280 million in additional funding has been put into services for older people.

As with all other sectors of society, the injection of Government money is not an absolute solution to all the issues. There will always be a need for extra resources, extra facilities, extra staff, etc. As the Senator will be aware, responsibility for the provision of health services in the Roscommon area rests with the Western Health Board in the first instance. With regard to the Plunkett Home in Boyle, the Senator will be aware that there has been an issue surrounding staffing numbers there. The health board has informed me that it has invested significantly over the past two years in upgrading the home and staffing levels have also increased. The board has undertaken a review of staffing levels and staff to patient ratios at the home. The Labour Relations Commission is facilitating discussion between management and the unions regarding the numbers and skills mix of staff that will be required for the service in the long term. No decision has been made on a reduction in bed numbers or staffing at the Plunkett Home in Boyle.