Frank O'Rourke
Question:442. Deputy Frank O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health when he will reinstate the home care package which his Department suspended in February 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18427/16]
View answerTuesday, 28 June 2016
Questions (442)
Written answers
Home supports are a key mechanism for enabling older people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as possible and for facilitating their discharge from acute hospitals. From the outset, the resources available for 2016 matched those provided in 2015, so there was never any overall reduction in services. However, the numbers of patients who had completed their acute treatment but required home-care in order to be discharged was very high in the early part of this year, and while the HSE did its best to meet this need it would have been necessary to adjust new service approvals if the original funding limit had applied. To ensure that this does not happen, the Government has increased the resources available. €20m will be allocated to ensure that the 10.4 million home help hours, 15,450 home care packages, 130 intensive home care packages and 313 transitional care beds provided in 2015 are maintained; €10m will ensure that the rate of service allocation can be maintained during the summer months; and €10m has been ring fenced for home care as part of the forthcoming winter initiative.