David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her policy in relation to assisted living supports for people with disabilities; the resources she has allocated to assisted living in 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45569/08]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Assisted living services are provided to people with disabilities in a number of ways, personal assistant services and home support services.

The personal assistant service involves the employment of personal assistants (PAs) to enable people with physical or sensory disability to live as independent a life as possible. The PA provides assistance at the direction of the person with the disability and may involve providing assistance with tasks of everyday living such as personal care, household tasks and outside the home, whether in a work or social situation, thus promoting choice and independence for the person with the disability. The PA works on a one to one basis, in the home and/or in the community, with a person with a physical or sensory disability, with the aim of assisting that person to achieve independence.

The Home Support service provides domestic and or personal care inputs at regular intervals on a weekly basis. It differs from the role of a PA in that it focuses more on the necessary domestic and personal care inputs of those based mainly in the home but can occasionally include community activities. Home supports can be provided through a dedicated home support service or through the generic home help service. Home supports can be an alternative to residential care, where support to individuals in daily living can avoid the need for full time residential services.

All assisted living services, including PA services and home support, is provided through voluntary agencies or through the HSE.

The assisted living service aims to:

facilitate appropriate and effective inclusion and participation in their local community; and

provide personal care when needed to facilitate community inclusion.

Services are accessed through an application process or through referrals from public health nurses or other community based staff. Individuals' needs are evaluated for the particular services and then decisions are made in relation to the allocation of resources. Resource allocation is determined by the needs of the individual, priorities and the level of resources available.

Under the Multi-Annual Investment Programme for people with a disability an additional 820,000 hours of PA/Home Support services has been put in place since 2005.

This year alone an additional €4.5m was allocated to provide 200,000 additional hours of PA/ Home support services.

The total level of assisted living service provided this year amounts to 3.2 million hours with a total cost of approximately €61m.