John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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854. To ask the Minister for Health the steps she is taking to address care of people with dementia in their home given that some people may not meet the narrow criteria for personal care but do require other forms of care in the home such as stimulation and are denied any care as a consequence of not meeting narrow criteria. [8221/22]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I have long been an advocate for the development of supports and services for people living with dementia and their families. There has been significant investment in recent years through the implementation of the National Dementia Strategy which aims to support people living with dementia and their families to live well for as long as possible. I secured an additional €7.3million in budget 2022 for dementia services with a focus on memory assessment and support services, memory technology resource rooms and the implementation of a dementia registry. In addition the number of additional home support hours that will be ring fenced for people living with dementia will more than double from 5% in 2021 to 11% in 2022. Taken together this represents €15million of increased investment dedicated to dementia in 2022 to supplement the €12.9million of additional funding in 2021. 

Funding allocated in 2021 focused on increasing community based supports and services for people living with dementia and their families. This included the enhancement of memory assessment and support services, enhanced memory technology resource rooms, increased access to in-home day care services and the continuation of the dementia understand together initiatives. These enhanced services and supports will work to enable people with dementia to live well in their communities for as long as possible. 

In addition, in November 2021 I officially launched an expansion of the National Dementia Advisor Service. The Dementia Adviser Service provides a key focal point to help people navigate the health and social care system, ensuring they receive the right support at the right time. I was delighted to secure funding for 11 new dementia advisers in 2021, to expand this vital service. This brought the total number of dementia advisers to 28 nationally.

With regards to your specific query around access to home care services for people living with dementia who require care outside of personal care, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.