Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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1330. To ask the Minister for Health if the lack of provision of home help services to elderly persons who are in serious need of home help is considered elder abuse by the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25737/16]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I would not argue that the resources now available for home care services are adequate and both I and the Government have committed to addressing this situation. However, there are many areas where constraints on resources limit the levels of service that can be given and homecare is no different. This is unfortunate but it is going very much too far to suggest that this constitutes abuse of the elderly by the state.

Home support services across the country are being stretched by demands from more people, and for more hours in the evenings and at weekends, all of which cost more. Activity in the first quarter of 2016 was ahead of the same period last year as efforts continued to alleviate pressure on the acute hospital system. Without additional funding this could not have been sustained and the allocations for the rest of the year would have had to be reduced.

However, the Government has been able to respond to this situation by providing an extra €40m for home care in 2016. As a result, not only are we maintaining home care services at 2015 levels, but increasing them in 2016. This will ensure that the HSE will provide 270,000 extra home help hours and 2,000 Home Care Packages more than what was planned for in 2015.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to increasing provision for home care in the years ahead. The planning and management of future health expenditure will be considered as part of the annual estimates and budgetary process which seeks to balance available funding across all of service areas to achieve the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of service users.