Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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583. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the Commission on Care; the terms of reference for the Commission; the membership of the Commission; the expected timeline for the completion of the Commission's work; the status of the initial review on all relevant age-related strategies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47974/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to supporting healthy and positive ageing throughout the life-course as well as to ensuring that older persons can continue to live independently in their homes and communities for as long as possible. At present, this objective is supported by the National Positive Ageing Strategy (2013), which provides a blueprint for whole-of-government policy-making and service-delivery in partnership with the community and voluntary sector. However, acknowledging the disproportionately negative impact of the pandemic on older persons, the Programme for Government (2020) commits to establishing a commission to examine care and supports for older people.

Desk-research has been undertaken within the Department of Health in preparation for the establishment of a commission on care. This encompassed an international review of relevant initiatives undertaken in other jurisdictions in recent years as well as some preliminary project-planning. The conclusions of this initial scoping exercise, along with an outline proposal for the commission, were presented to Minister Butler earlier this year. It is envisaged that the commission will support a whole-of-government approach to examining the plethora of existing policies and strategies which are of relevance to supporting positive and healthy ageing. Drawing on lessons learnt internationally as well as on stakeholder-engagement, it is also anticipated that the commission will make recommendations to effectively address the gaps which currently exist in the policy-landscape.

While the terms of reference, membership and timelines for the commission have yet to be determined, it is anticipated that, staffing resources within the Department of Health permitting, the commission will be established in the new year.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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584. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on the work of the cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group; the number of times the group has met to date; the dates of each meeting; if she has received the recommendations and proposed action plan from the group to date, as expected by September 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47975/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In March 2022 I established the cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to examine strategic workforce challenges in publicly and privately provided front-line carer roles in home-support and nursing homes, and to develop recommendations to address these. The Group met six times between March and August 2022 on the following dates:

- 3 March

- 10 March

- 24 March

- 28 April

- 7 July

- 18 August.

In addition, the Group undertook a structured programme of stakeholder-engagement to gain insight into the challenges arising from the perspective of key sectoral groups.

The report of the Group, which outlines their key findings and recommendations, is currently being finalised prior to submission to me for my consideration.