Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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746. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the proposed introduction of measures that will lead to the establishment of minimum standards, qualifications and inspection regimes for private and public providers of home care for elderly persons and vulnerable adults in their own homes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8051/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Government for National Recovery, 2011-2016 commits to developing and implementing national standards for home support services, which will be subject to HIQA inspection. Primary legislation and resources will be required for the introduction of a statutory regulation system for home care services. This is being considered in the wider context of the licensing of Public and Private Health Service Providers.

I would like to emphasise, however that statutory regulation or licensing is only one way of improving quality and safety and the HSE is already progressing a range of measures to improve its Home Care provision overall, to standardise services nationally and to promote access, quality, and safety. These include: 1. A Procurement Framework for Home Care Services (with quality and screening requirements) came into effect in mid-2012. These apply to services procured by the HSE from external providers. 2. National Guidelines for the Standardised Implementation of the Home Care Package Schemewereintroduced in parallel with above. 3. New National Quality Guidelines for the Home Help Service have been prepared. Following negotiations between the HSE and SIPTU under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission, the LRC issued recommendations in September in relation to annualised contracts and minimum hours for HH staff directly employed by HSE. The draft Guidelines are being reviewed in the light of these recommendations.