Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it provides me with an opportunity to reaffirm the Government's continued commitment to services for older people generally and, in particular, to the important area of home support services. Government policy on older people is to support people to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Where appropriate, the health service also supports access to quality long-term residential care. This policy approach is renewed and developed in the partnership agreement Towards 2016.

The development of these services reflects the prioritisation and significant investment by the Government in recent years with, for example, over €200 million in additional funding provided to develop community-based services nationally. This additional funding related, for example, to home care packages, home help, meals on wheels, and day or respite care. The aim is to meet client needs through a variety of supports which focus on a multidisciplinary approach to deliver services centred on a person's home. It is important to stress that notwithstanding current financial pressures generally, the Government has made every effort to protect home care services for older people. The Government recently made available an extra €10 million in the 2010 budget to increase the provision of home care packages. This will be focused on identified pressures in the acute hospitals and long-term residential care systems.

Home care packages are a relatively new initiative introduced in 2006 and developed in the mean time through phased investment of €120 million in new funding. A package comprises a variety of enhanced community-based services and supports, including cash grants or a significant home help element in many cases to best meet the needs of an older person. Clients may have significant medical, nursing and therapy requirements and may be recently discharged from hospital, or at-risk of admission to hospital, if such needs are not met in a planned way.

The HSE service plan 2009 envisages around 8,700 people benefiting from packages at any one time, or over 11,500 over the course of this year. The Department of Health and Children earlier this year commissioned an independent evaluation into the operation of home care packages. The report was published on 3 December and will help inform future policy and service direction for older people generally.

Home care services are delivered either directly by the HSE or on behalf of the executive in partnership as appropriate with the voluntary sector or through private providers. The position nationally on home help shows that, for example, expected expenditure this year is around €210 million, an increase from 10.8 million home help hours in 2006 to nearly 12 million hours this year and numbers benefiting increasing from just under 49,600 at the end of 2006, to around 54,000 this year.

I understand the HSE management in Donegal met representatives of relevant unions and home support workers earlier this year to discuss various aspects of home support provision in the county. These relate, for example, to standardised assessments, compensatory pay under the national home help agreement and the question of third-party service delivery.

The HSE has indicated that home help hours per recipient in Donegal compares favourably to the rest of the country. The HSE has recently been advised of its budgetary allocation for 2010 and is in the process of preparing its national service plan for next year. As the Senator will be aware, the executive is legally obliged to provide services within its allocation and will shortly be submitting a service plan to the Minister. The question of the future provision of home help services in Donegal can be considered only in the context of the overall HSE service plan.

In conclusion, it is clear that the Government has made considerable improvements in recent years to enhance home care provision generally across the country, including in Donegal. There is no doubt that demand can at times exceed service resources. I am satisfied that the HSE will continue to deliver such services in the best manner possible, taking account of evolving circumstances at national and local level.