Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons who could be affected by the loss of 192 home help workers following the conclusion of the early retirement scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8370/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The home help service is a core community service supporting older people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible, with the aim of best meeting their preferred wishes, and reducing pressures elsewhere on the wider care system. The demand for the home help service, and for additional supports such as Home Care Packages continues to grow as the population, and the complex needs, of older people increases.

The capacity of the Health Service Executive to provide approved levels of home help services is reviewed in the context of overall resources available. The latest estimated number of home helps that may potentially retire under the current initiative is in the region of 210 nationally, but the actual number that will retire cannot be confirmed at this time as some applicants may yet withdraw their applications.

It should be noted, however, that the majority of HSE employed home helps are part-time workers and that the impact on service delivery of retirements will be managed carefully by the Executive, within the remaining staff resource. In addition, should a situation arise that HSE employed home help staff are not available for whatever reason, it is possible for individual areas to make alternative arrangements as appropriate. This could include, for example,the use of indirect service providers, with whom areas already have partnership arrangements to provide services. In this way, it is planned that any impact on individual home help clients can be kept to a minimum.

The target for people expected to avail of home help services nationally at any time in 2012 is around 50,000. This represents a reduction of 1.2%, when compared with the projected out-turn for 2011. It is anticipated, therefore, that while overall service levels are being reduced due to resource constraints, the service reduction on home help client numbers will be minimised.

This approach will obviously require a stringent on-going review of resources and evolving service pressures. Local Health Offices will therefore regularly review the home help service to ensure that existing applicants receive supports aligned to their assessed needs, and that new applicants can, insofar as possible, continue to be processed and allocated appropriate supports in line with resources available.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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Question 29: To ask the Minister for Health if he and or the Health Service Executive have measured the reduction of home help hours by 4.5% in the Health Service Executive national service plan 2012 against the projected additional need for home help in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8326/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Government policy is support older people to live at home and in their communities for as long as possible. This is realised through a range of community based services such as Home Help, Home Care Packages, Meals-on-Wheels, and Day or Respite Care.

While the recently agreed HSE Service Plan for 2012 involves a reduction of 4.5% in Home Help hours nationally, from around 11.2m hours in 2011 to 10.7m hours this year, the corresponding reduction proposed in the actual number of people receiving this service drops by only 1.2%. Therefore, the projected number of people receiving the Home Help service this year is 50,000, compared to some 50,600 in 2011. This approach is possible due to the increased focus by the HSE on more personalised care for the most vulnerable older people.

In addition, the HSE has committed in its Service Plan to maintaining Home Care Packages for this year at 2011 levels. These enhanced packages of care often contain a strong Home Help element, as well as a multidisciplinary care component, to assist vulnerable older people. The Executive is increasingly placing greater emphasis on other improvements in Home Care. These include developing new operational guidelines, increased linkages between Services for Older People and Primary Care Teams, and advancing the potential of Telecare, and Aids and Appliances, for older people. The central challenge facing the health service this year is to use the reduced level of resources available to meet as best it can the increasing needs of older people for health and personal social services. This means we have to prioritise those in greatest need and accelerate reform of our services.