Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 November 2004
160 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her target for the ratio of home help hours per 1000 of the population aged 65 years and over; the total home help hours provided in the years 2002, 2003 and projected for 2004; the way in which this compares to the target level of provision which she has set; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27527/04]
View answerThe aim of the home help service is to enable people to remain living at home who would otherwise need to be cared for in long-stay residential care. This service is an essential support to families and informal carers. The home help service by its nature is a flexible service which is designed to respond to clients' needs. The service is targeted at high and medium dependency clients in accordance with their assessed need. As a result, therefore, the level of service required in individual cases will fluctuate from time to time and in these circumstances it would be difficult to set targets for service delivery. To ensure effective prioritisation of the service, assessments are undertaken at local sector level and are carried out by the public health nursing services.
There are a number of reasons why demand for the home help service has been increasing. Approximately 6,000 additional people come into the over 65 years bracket every year and there has been a proportionately higher percentage increase in the more dependant over 80 category. These factors may necessitate some minor adjustments in the provision of the home help service to individual clients. Basically, this means that although a small percentage of clients may have had their hours reduced in the recent past, this has been counterbalanced by others receiving the service for the first time. I have been assured by all health boards that the provision of the home help service is organised on the basis that priority is given to the most vulnerable clients.
The following table illustrates the number of home help hours delivered by the health boards for 2002, 2003 and 2004.
|
Health Board |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 Service Plan |
|
ERHA (NAHB) |
535,720 |
538,600 |
538,600 |
|
ERHA (SWAHB) |
949,680 |
930,000 |
900,000 |
|
ERHA (ECAHB) |
338,953 |
313,793 |
313,793 |
|
NEHB |
868,390 |
732,183 |
815,000 |
|
NWHB |
678,744 |
676,034 |
676,034 |
|
MHB |
604,902 |
516,716 |
516,716 |
|
MWHB |
695,221 |
696,935 |
696,935 |
|
SEHB |
772,937 |
878,694 |
878,694 |
|
SHB |
2,608,972 |
2,600,000 |
2,652,000 |
|
WHB |
670,401 |
945,944 |
975,611 |
|
TOTAL |
8,723,920 |
8,828,899 |
8,963,383 |
