Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 1203: To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding changes to a budget (details supplied) and the way he proposes that services can be maintained to support vulnerable persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17733/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the assisted living / personal assistant services provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to people with a physical and/or sensory disability.

The HSE's National Service Plan for 2012 provides for a reduction of 3.7% in funding to specialist disability services. However, the Plan states that at least 2% of this reduction should not impact on services and needs to be generated from other savings and increased efficiencies.

As part of the ongoing work of the HSE's National Consultative Forum on disability services, the HSE in conjunction with representative organisations, service providers and service users, has begun a process to identify and agree a framework for identifying and implementing cost efficiencies. The goal is to minimise the impact on services.

The HSE provides a range of assisted living services, including Personal Assistant services, to support individuals to maximise their capacity to live full and independent lives. In 2011, a total of 1.68 million personal assistant / home support hours were provided to 11,571 persons with a physical and/or a sensory disability. Although the funding allocated to disability services has decreased by 3.7%, the HSE aims to minimise the impact this will have on services users and their families as much as possible. The HSE is in the process of negotiating with agencies providing personal assistant services around the unit cost of providing this service.