Mary Upton
Question:433 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will examine correspondence (details supplied); and the reforms he proposes to take on the basis of the points made therein regarding community care. [24845/03]
Written Answers. - Community Care.
The policy of the Department of Health and Children on services for older people is to maintain them in dignity and independence at home in accordance with their wishes, as expressed in many research studies; to restore to independence at home those older people who become ill or dependent; to encourage and support the care of older people in their own community by family, neighbours and voluntary bodies; and to provide a high quality of hospital and residential care for older people when they can no longer be maintained in dignity and independence at home. The role of the home help service is vital to this policy.
Following the publication, in 1998, of the report entitled The Future Organisation of the Home Help service in Ireland by the National Council on Ageing and Older People, I am pleased to say that there has been a major step forward in the implementation of the home help scheme from 1999 onwards, both in terms of the amount of service delivered and treatment of the home helps themselves. On the latter point, the days when home helps worked for a pittance are, I am happy to say, long gone. Upwards of €30 million has been injected into the system to ensure that home helps receive a decent level of pay and other entitlements such as holidays and sick-leave. On the service side, an additional €7 million has been made available to the health boards to increase the level of home help service availability through the employment of more home helps, or by increasing the number of hours worked by existing home helps.
There are a number of reasons there is an increased demand on the home help service, which include the demographic fact that approximately 6,000 people are coming into the over-65 bracket every year and also there is, proportionately, a bigger percentage increase in the more dependant over-80 category. These factors may necessitate some minor adjustments in the provision of the home help service. I have been assured by all the health boards that the provision of the home help service is organised on the basis that the more vulnerable clients are given priority.
The increased expenditure on the home help service is set out precisely in the following table:
|
Health Board |
Home Help Budget |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
€ |
€ |
€ |
€ |
||
|
ERHA |
14,854,841 |
22,304,785 |
21,673,347 |
21,650,641 |
|
|
NEHB |
3,943,666 |
7,940,449 |
8,788,108 |
8,165,391 |
|
|
NWHB |
3,297,528 |
6,883,268 |
7,987,268 |
8,347,268 |
|
|
MHB |
3,499,000 |
7,008,000 |
7,970,000 |
8,671,000 |
|
|
MWHB |
4,133,456 |
9,741,212 |
9,459,248 |
9,574,315 |
|
|
SEHB |
3,605,456 |
8,477,244 |
8,891,659 |
9,196,719 |
|
|
SHB |
12,300,000 |
27,900,000 |
28,000,000 |
31,300,000 |
|
|
WHB |
6,060,536 |
12,004,280 |
12,344,989 |
13,513,791 |
|
|
Total |
51,694,483 |
102,259,238 |
105,114,619 |
110,419,125 |
The percentage increase of expenditure on the home help service in 2003 as compared with 2000, in each health board area, is as follows:
|
ERHA |
45.74% |
|
NEHB |
107.05% |
|
NWHB |
153.13% |
|
MHB |
147.81% |
|
MWHB |
131.62% |
|
SEHB |
155.07% |
|
SHB |
154.47% |
|
WHB |
122.98% |
The total increase in expenditure on the home help service across all health board areas, since 2000, is 113.59%.
The overall economic position in 2003 has had implications for all aspects of public investment, and this is reflected in the Estimates and budget adopted by the Government for 2003. Within this overall framework, however, two thirds of the additional funding available for non-capital investment in services has been allocated to the health services. This funding is being applied largely to maintaining existing levels of service across all service programmes including the home help service.