Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 April 2004
592 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Health and Children the funding that has been allocated to the North Western Health Board for the development of and in particular the personal care packages for older persons who wish to remain at home in their community as an alternative to long stay residential care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11708/04]
View answerAs the provision of this type of service has historically been supplied from the community care budget of the health board in the form of home help services etc., it is difficult to be precise about the budget for this type of care. However, in addition to this year's community care budget, the North Western Health Board has been allocated €125,000 for the purposes of providing personal care packages on a pilot scheme basis.
Since my appointment as Minister of State, I have been encouraging the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the health boards to introduce personal care packages for older people as an alternative to long-stay residential care. Personal care packages are specifically designed for the individual concerned and could possibly include the provision of a home help service, home subvention payments, arrangements for attendance at a day centre or day hospital and other services such as twilight nursing. Personal care packages allow older persons the option of remaining living in their own home rather than going into long-stay residential care. Additional funding of €1.25 million was made available to the health boards this year for the introduction of personal care packages. This is on top of the significant expenditure currently being incurred on home help and other services aimed at supporting people at home.
