Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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110. To ask the Minister for Health the plans he has made to address the shortage of home care hours and the postcode lottery involved in home care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38998/19]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Health is currently engaged in the development of a new statutory scheme and system of regulation for home-support services. The Sláintecare Implementation Strategy commits to the introduction of this scheme in 2021. As part of this, work is on-going to determine the optimal approach to the development of the statutory scheme within the broader context of the Sláintecare reforms.

Presently the Department of Health is engaging extensively with the HSE in the context of planning for winter, including consideration of the response to dealing with current challenges such as the high level of delayed transfers of care. While this engagement continues the HSE has been authorised to undertake immediate action to mitigate the challenges. Discussion will continue over the coming weeks having regard to the Estimates 2020 process.