Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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129. To ask the Minister for Health the procedures in place to regulate and monitor the quality of home care services delivered by both public and private sector bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37401/14]

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, and this will be progressed in the context of overall legislative and resource priorities.

I would like to emphasise, however, that statutory regulation or licensing is only one way of improving quality and safety. The HSE is already progressing a range of measures to improve Home Care provision overall, to standardise services nationally and to promote quality and safety. These include a Procurement Framework for Home Care Serviceswith quality and screening requirements which came into effect in 2012 and applies to services procured by the HSE from external providers. The HSE is currently undertaking a review of home care services with a view to improving services generally.