Vol. 486 No. 1
583 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are difficulties in some areas recruiting people to fill home help positions; the plans, if any, he has to deal with this difficulty in view of the importance of this service and its cost effectiveness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1759/98]
615 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will consider improvement in allowances for home help in relation to those caring for the elderly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2229/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 583 and 615 together.
The valuable role which is played by home helps in the overall care of older people here is widely recognised. In this context, my Department has arranged to have an examination of the home help services carried out by an independent body, under the supervision of the National Council on Ageing and Older People, to advise on how the services can be developed in a cost effective way in tandem with the other community based services. I expect work to be completed on this review by early summer and when I have received the report I will be in a better position to consider how better to bring about improvements in the overall organisation and development of the home help service.
The recruitment of and the rate of payment to home helps are matters in the first instance for the individual health boards. The questions of increasing the rate of payment or the recruitment of additional home helps would have to be considered in the context of competing demands for the resources available to the boards.
