John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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357. To ask the Minister for Health if additional funding will be made available to the HSE to reduce the waiting list and waiting time for home support in view of the fact that at the end of February 2018 there were 6,172 persons waiting for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17488/18]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Home support services were a particular area of focus in Budget 2018, with an additional €18.25 million allocated. The additional resources bring the budget for the provision of home support services to €408 million. The HSE's 2018 National Service Plan provides for a target of some 17.094 million home support hours to be provided to 50,500 people, which compares with last year's 16.34 million hours delivered to 50,000 people (home help and home care package funded hours combined). This is an increase of 754,000 hours to 500 more people. In addition 235 intensive home care packages will provide 360,000 home support hours for people with complex needs.

Following the recent significant adverse weather the HSE provided about 350 extra Home Support Packages across 13 specific hospitals over a five week period.

Despite this significant level of service provision, the demand for home support continues to grow. It is important to note that the allocation of funding for home support across the system, though significant, is finite and services must therefore be delivered within the funding available. In this context, I acknowledge that access to the service may take longer than we would like. However, the HSE monitors the delivery of home support on an on-going basis, to ensure that activity is maximised relative to individual clients’ assessed care needs within the overall available resources for home support and having regard to demand throughout the year.

The Government is committed to promoting care in the community so that people can continue to live with confidence, security and dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. To support this, we plan to establish a new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home support services. The Department is currently engaged in a detailed process to progress this.