Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There were challenges with the old system in that when a person rang in sick on a particular day, often a client was left without somebody. That was one of the reasons the HSE has been working over the last two years on this particular new rota, which has been working across many areas. It was rolled out in west Waterford. We had teething at issues at the start, but that has certainly improved. There are always going to be teething issues. The roster system has been in place in parts of the service for more than two years. Following the initial transition to this new arrangement, clients have found that they are still in receipt of quality home care. The HSE is working as best it can. The Senator must remember that the HSE also outsources a lot of its work to private providers. It is working as much as possible to ensure a client's current healthcare assistant continues to deliver some of his or her support, while equally ensuring the remainder of his or her service is delivered by similarly qualified and professional home support staff. However, I understand where the Senator is coming from, especially if somebody, for example, might have early stage dementia and is familiar with one particular person. I can talk to the Senator offline about some of the things we are doing to try to sort out this issue.