John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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177. To ask the Minister for Health if the practical home help and personal care service will continue to be available to persons aged under 65 years of age who suffer from chronic illnesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52130/17]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Home care services are critical to allow older people to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. These services also provide consequent support to carers in their caring role. The HSE provides Home Care Packages (HCPs) which are enhanced supports, over and above existing mainstream Home Help service and these can include additional home help hours, nursing care and therapy services that might be needed due to illness, disability, after a stay in hospital or following rehabilitation in a nursing home. Access to HCPs is provided on the basis of assessed care need, carried out by health care professionals. In 2014, the HSE introduced Intensive Home Care Packages to facilitate timely discharge home from acute hospitals of people who require very significant interventions to an extent not previously provided as part of the Home Care Package Scheme or current community services.

The principal focus of these services is on people aged 65 years or over. There is some flexibility in relation to applications, and if a younger person’s assessed needs can be best met by services designed for older people, then occasionally such an application may be considered. However, access to home care packages by reference to illness type is not provided.

The overall funding allocated for Home Care in 2017 is €376m. The HSE’s National Service Plan for 2017 provides for a target of 10.57 million Home Help Hours, 16,750 Home Care Packages and 190 Intensive Home Care Packages. Funding for home care supports continues to increase with a further €32m for home care and transitional care provided for in 2018 in the recent Budget. The detail of service delivery for 2018 is currently being developed through the National Service Planning Process.

The HSE is committed to protecting the level of Personal Assistant and Home Support Services available to people with disabilities. In their 2017 National Service Plan, the HSE expects to deliver 1.4 million Personal Assistant hours to 2,357 adults with a physical and/or sensory disability. With regard to Home Support hours, the HSE's 2017 commitment is to provide 2.75 million hours to people with disabilities.