Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1036. To ask the Minister for Health the steps that have been taken to increase the number of home carers to alleviate waiting lists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14785/22]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to the development of improved community-based services, shifting care to the home, and offering greater choice for older people. As Minister with responsibility for this area I have prioritised home support services so that additional funding secured in Budget 2021, to provide an extra 5 million hours, has been maintained under Budget 2022. In 2021 some 20.4 million hours were provided to over 55,000 people. This is about 2.9 million more hours compared to 2020, an increase of 17%.

It takes some time between funding approval and the actual delivery of home support hours, and certain regions are experiencing increased pressures due to staff availability. At the end of January 2022 there were 4,836 people assessed and waiting for a carer to become available. This is a reduction from December 2021, when 5,322 were waiting for a carer to become available. At the end of January 274 were awaiting processing of funding approval, which is a reduction from 474 in December 2021, the previous month.

The HSE is endeavouring to prioritise service for clients with the highest care needs, to ensure that the service can commence for those who require it most urgently. It is important to note that progress is being made in this area, and that the total number of people waiting for home support across both categories has reduced from over 9,000 at the start of 2020 to approximately 5,110 by the end of January 2022.

I am very aware of the strategic workforce challenges in the home support and nursing homes sector, and I have held multiple meetings with relevant key stakeholders in recent months on these matters. I have also spoken about my commitment to establish a Cross-Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to examine strategic workforce challenges, including recruitment and retention of workers, in front-line carer roles in home support and nursing homes.

The Group is now established and held its first meeting on 3rd March 2022, following a call for submissions from key relevant stakeholders.

The Terms of Reference for the Group are available on the Department’s website: bit.ly/3IgjEko

The Group will progress a structured programme of ongoing consultative engagements with stakeholders to further explore and define the issues, listen to stakeholder views, and identify approaches to respond to the strategic workforce challenges.

The Group will also provide a forum for agreement on strategic approaches to address the workforce challenges in the sector and develop a report for my consideration outlining the Group’s key findings, recommendations, and a proposed action plan to support implementation of these recommendations to include periodic monitoring of progress.

The Group is working to a tight timeline and is committed to providing a set of recommendations to me by September 2022.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1037. To ask the Minister for Health the status of legislation being introduced to regulate the home care sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14786/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government agreed in 2020 commits the government to ‘Introduce a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes, which will provide equitable access to high-quality, regulated home care’.

Consequently, work is on-going within the Department of Health to progress the development of the new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support services. Taking place within the broader context of the Sláintecare reforms, this work encompasses the development of the regulatory framework for the new scheme; the examination of the options for the financing model for the scheme; and the development of a reformed model of service-delivery.

In relation to the regulatory framework, Government gave approval to draft a General Scheme and Heads of a Bill to establish a licensing framework for homecare and support providers in April 2021. This is being progressed by the Department with a view to bringing it through the Houses of the Oireachtas at the earliest opportunity. It is expected that the primary legislation will give the Minister for Health the power to make regulations in respect of minimum requirements which will form the criteria against which a provider’s eligibility to hold a licence will be determined. The framework will comprise: (i) primary legislation for the licensing of public and private home-support providers; (ii) minimum requirements (i.e., regulations); and (iii) HIQA National Standards for Home Support Services.

Development of regulations and quality standards are at an advanced level and public consultation on these draft minimum requirements is planned for Q2 2022.

On 24th February, the ESRI published a report on the demand for and cost of home support. This is the final output from a programme of research that the ESRI has undertaken to support the Department of Health to progress the development of the new home support scheme. This research will form an important part of the evidence base for the development of a sustainable funding model for home support services in the context of our ageing population. Government approval will be sought in due course on any proposed legislation to provide for a financial support scheme, taking into consideration the cost associated with the various options.