Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is more than welcome. It is always a pleasure to have her before us. Her Cork roots always come out in the responses. In that context, I am looking forward to her response.

There is a need for the Minister for Health to review the recent changes that have been made with regard to home support services in Cork county. In April, a number of significant changes to those services were introduced. Under the traditional model, home support was given to a family or an individual on the basis of need and a home support worker worked with the family or individual involved on a permanent basis. Links were built through the community off the back of this. We knew exactly who the home support workers were. They came at a certain time of the day and became part of the family and the set-up. They worked very well with clients. There has been a change to the rostering system, however, which means that because of a ruling agreed between the Department and the workers, the latter are now operating on the basis of a rotational system. This means that families and individuals do not have the same support workers coming their homes on a continuous basis.

In my part of the world, people who would traditionally have had two calls a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, are only being visited once a day, usually in the evening. This does not suit the families involved. The knock-on effect is that, unfortunately, the quality of the service is not the same. There is great frustration within some families, in particular about how the service is operating. As stated, the rostering system was changed on foot of an agreement between the HSE and staff representatives. However, the clients were never informed.They were never a part of this change in process. They were never asked for their opinion or view but were just told there had been a change. I had a client on to me who is over 100 years of age. She lives independently beside her son's house. She had previously had a call in the morning and another in the afternoon and was now being offered a mid-afternoon call. This lady is 102 and a wonderful person, if I may say so. The family fought for major changes and eventually the HSE did make a change but that is the kind of upset I am trying to avoid. I have other clients on to me who have traditionally got two calls a day but who are now down to one call every three days, if they are lucky. The home support service, which is key, has been diminished.

The home support packages are unique. They help people to live in their own settings with their family for longer. They are a unique part of ensuring the promotion of the community aspect, which does a great deal for our State. I am genuinely concerned about how these new proposals were brought forward, about how the rosters work and about the service being provided on the ground. When this agreement was made, the actual clients were not involved. The clients, the patients and people who use these support services, had no input and they are not happy. The implication is that they do not see the same person or that the person does not come at the same time. They traditionally got two calls, often in the mid-afternoon and the morning. They knew the person who would come and built up a relationship. Unfortunately, that has now gone. We need a review. Does the Department propose to carry out a review of these new rostering set-ups in which the clients would be involved because they are not very happy with what is currently being proposed?