Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2013
599. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health the reason home help assistants, contracted by the Health Service Executive, do not appear to have hours they have lost reinstated or replaced over recent years [18483/13]
View answer600. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Health if he will provide a commitment that all contracts between the Health Service Executive and home help assistants will be honoured in terms of compensation for lost hours in the event of their clients being taken into respite care or in the event of their client's death [18484/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 599 and 600 together.
I fully appreciate the difference quality home care can make to individuals and their families. The HSE also recognise the importance of home help and home care in supporting older persons to live in their own homes and communities in accordance with Government policy. Home helps play a vital role in enabling people to continue to live at home and this policy will continue to be a key feature of health service delivery. The Government will make every effort, despite significant resource pressures, to protect front-line home support services for vulnerable older people and to facilitate the development of the home help service.
While the HSE announced a reduction in the provision of home help hours as one of a number of measures required to address the significant 2012 budget deficit last October, this was subject to home help services continuing to be available to those assessed as requiring them. The HSE’s 2013 Service Plan includes the provision of 10.3 million hours of home help service, the same level as planned for in 2012.
The number of hours worked by home help assistants varies according to service needs. Their terms and conditions were covered by an agreement negotiated with the representative unions in 2009. On 29 June 2012, the Labour Court recommended that the HSE and SIPTU should engage in relation to matters concerning the contracts of home help assistants. The Court issued a further recommendation on 12 December 2012 noting that management proposals to deal with the issues raised would be encompassed in a comprehensive delivery model for home help services. The parties have since met on a number of occasions in relation to contractual issues under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission and this engagement is ongoing.
