Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Health the reason behind the 14% reduction in home help hours in counties Sligo and Leitrim for January to April 2017 relative to the same period in 2016. [29079/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Home supports are a key mechanism for enabling older people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible and for facilitating their discharge from acute hospitals.

The HSE’s National Service Plan for 2016 originally provided for a target of 10.4 million Home Help Hours and for 15,450 Home Care Packages. However, the numbers of patients who had completed their acute treatment but required home-care in order to be discharged was very high in the early part of the year. Without additional funding this could not have been sustained and the allocations for the rest of the year would have had to be reduced.

Government responded to this challenge by providing an extra €40m for home care in 2016. Further resources were provided through the Winter Initiative, in particular extra home care packages and an increase in approvals for transitional care beds.

This year’s National Service Plan provides for a target of 10.57 million Home Help Hours, 16,750Home Care Packagesand190Intensive Home Care Packages for clients with complex needs. While the January to April data for home help hours is less than the corresponding period in 2016, of more significance is that the HSE target for this year is to provide about 443,545 home help hours in Sligo/Leitrim. This is an increase of 10,478 hours on the number delivered in 2016. In relation to Home Care Packages, 304 people were in receipt of a Home Care Package in the Sligo/Leitrim region in April 2017, an increase of 4% on the expected target of 293 people.