Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Improving access to home support has been a priority for Government. Over the past four years we have seen a considerable increase of nearly €140 million in the budget which has grown from €306 million in 2015 to almost €446 million this year. This includes additional funding provided as part of Winter Planning 2018/2019.

The HSE’s National Service Plan sets a target that over 53,000 people will receive more than 18 million home support hours this year. This will assist older people to live independently in their own homes for longer and enable large numbers of people to return home following acute hospital admission. Our immediate focus is to support approximately 550 people leave hospital over this winter period.

Despite this significant level of service provision demand continues to rise and there is considerable variation in access to services in different parts of the country.

While the existing home support service is delivering crucial support to many people across the country, it needs to be improved to better meet the changing needs of older people. That is why we propose to establish a statutory scheme for home care which will improve access to the service on an affordable and sustainable basis while also introducing a system of regulation that will ensure public confidence.

Details of the breakdown of home support packages and number of home support hours per region is an operational matter for the HSE and this aspect of Deputy’s request has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.