Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1534. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on home support services and home support packages (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19985/22]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In 2020 I secured additional funding of €150 million for home support to progress the development of a reformed model of service delivery to underpin the statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support services and to provide 5 million additional hours of home support in 2021.

The funding to provide these additional hours has been maintained into 2022. Delivering this enhanced capacity requires substantial recruitment. This has been affected due to the strategic workforce challenges in the home support sector. An Advisory Group has been set up and has already met, to identify the specific obstacles to recruiting carers, and make recommendations to me by this September.

It is important to note that progress is being made in this area - at the end of February 2022 there were 4,567 people assessed and waiting for a carer to become available. This is a reduction from January, when 4,836 were waiting for a carer to become available.

At the end of February 286 were awaiting processing of funding approval, which is a slight increase from 273 in January. It is important to note there will always be new applications being processed – this is not a funding issue.

The total number of people waiting for home support across both categories has reduced from over 9,000 at the start of 2020 to 4,853 by the end of February 2022.

Regarding your specific question on home support in Co Kerry, this is an operational matter and we have referred it to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to you.

In addition, you may be interested to know that I have established a cross-Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to examine strategic workforce challenges in front-line carer roles in home support and nursing homes in Ireland.  

This got underway with a 'Call for Submissions', in December 2021 which issued by the Department to relevant stakeholders.

Following receipt of these completed submissions in January, Department officials undertook a short-life scoping exercise to gather initial data and evidence on the nature and extent of the challenges in the sector to inform the structure and membership of this cross-departmental Group.

On completion of the scoping exercise, the inaugural meeting of this Group was held on 3rd March, 2022.

The Group is presently working with key sectoral stakeholders in a structured programme of ongoing consultative engagements to further explore and define the issues. 

Areas being considered by the Group include recruitment, retention, training, pay and conditions, and the career development of front-line carers in home support and nursing homes into the future. 

The Group provides a forum for agreement on strategic approaches to address the workforce challenges in the sector nationwide and will develop a report for my consideration outlining the key findings, recommendations, and a proposed action plan to support implementation of these recommendations.