Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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674. To ask the Minister for Health the position of his Department in respect of the Regulation of Homecare paper published by the Health Information and Quality Authority; if the paper will be used by his Department to progress the development of the new statutory home support scheme as part of the Sláintecare programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26437/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The HIQA paper on the regulation of homecare services published in December 2021 makes a valuable contribution to the development of the new statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support. It will further inform progress on the Sláintecare programme, which aims to support people to live in their own homes with dignity and independence, for as long as possible.

The Government is committed to establishing a new, statutory home-support scheme, which the Department of Health is currently developing. The new scheme will provide equitable and transparent access to high-quality services for people based on their assessed care-needs.

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 for home-support services. With the aim of ensuring that all service-users are provided with a standard, high-quality level of care which is safe, effective, and person-centred, it is envisaged that the regulatory 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.

Last year, Government gave approval to draft a General Scheme and Heads of a Bill to establish a licensing framework for home-support providers. This is being progressed by the Department with a view of 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. A regulatory impact analysis will be undertaken by the Department in 2022 to ensure effectiveness and mitigate risks.

The aim is to ensure that service-users are safe-guarded and protected, and a responsive, person-centred, quality-driven home-support service is provided. This is central to the Sláintecare objective of providing ‘right care, in the right place at the right time’. The regulations being drawn up by the Department and the standards being drafted by the HIQA both take cognisance of the diverse and often complex needs of those who require homecare and support. 

HIQA has extensive experience in the regulation of social care services and has conducted wide-ranging research into the regulation of home-support services. HIQA ran a public scoping consultation in September 2021 to inform the development of National Standards for Home Support Services. HIQA has convened an Advisory Group, with representation from the Department of Health, to assist in the process of developing the Draft National Standards.

In collaboration with HIQA and in consultation with the Health Service Executive and other key informants, the Department developed draft regulations and a targeted stakeholder consultation was undertaken in January 2022. Evaluating the feedback of this consultation is informing amendments in the draft regulations in advance of a public consultation planned in Q2 2022.

The Pilot for testing of a reformed model of service for the delivery for home-support is fully operational. It commenced in November in CHO 8, which is the first of the four pilot sites. The three other sites CHO2, CHO 4 and CHO 7 became operational in January 2022. Funding has been approved for 128 interRAI Care Needs Facilitators to progress the national roll-out of interRAI as the standard assessment tool for care-needs.  The interRAI outputs and pilot site evaluation will be critical to the development of the new home-support scheme. A National Home Support Office is in the process of being established.