Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2016
2. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Health the number of banked and paid for hours that home-help workers are due; the breakdown of these by region; the number of hours that have been cut from persons in the same areas for the period 2014 to 2016 to date; the number of home-help hours projected for 2016 and the percentage of these that have been delivered to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21095/16]
View answerThis question relates to home-help services. I had the privilege and pleasure of representing home helps during the negotiations for the contract to which the question relates. The purpose of the contract was to ensure they would have stability of hours with a certain degree of flexibility built in. According to reports in the media, from which, disappointingly, we are getting a lot of information about the health service, these hours have now been banked and remain unused. The purpose of the question is to investigate what is going on there.
I thank the Deputy for her question. As she rightly pointed out, she was part of a process that took place in April 2014. Following the Labour Court recommendations, the HSE implemented the new contracts for HSE home-help staff with the agreement of SIPTU.
At the end of April 2016, 33% of the target of 10.4 million home-help hours set in the HSE's national service plan had been delivered.
The HSE and SIPTU agreed a revised contract for those providing home help to be operational from April 2014 under the auspices of the Labour Court. This provides that the relevant employees are paid in full for their contracted hours. However, where the hours they actually work drop below this, usually because of the changing needs of those in receipt of the service, the difference in hours, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, is banked on the understanding it will be worked at a later stage.
This concept of banked hours is subject to quarterly review to ensure that excessive banked hours do not build up. That normally comes into play when there are more than 100 hours. Of the 6,900 part-time workers providing home help in January 2016, 67 workers, mainly in Cork and Kerry, had banked 100 hours or more. In these cases, steps are taken to reduce the build-up, including by working relief for other home-help workers. Contracted hours can be reduced for various reasons, including the preference of individual workers, availability of transport and the need for particular skills. As reductions in contract hours for individual home helps are not collated nationally, unfortunately, I will not be able to give the Deputy some of the figures she has requested.
The HSE will continue to work to apply available resources to most effectively target those with the greatest need and to provide the best possible contribution to the system as a whole. Home-support services are provided on the basis of assessed health-care need and regularly reviewed. Services are being stretched by demands from more people, and for more hours at times outside of core hours, in the evenings and at weekends, all of which cost more. I am happy to say that the Government has been able to respond to this by providing an extra €40 million for home care in 2016. Not only will this ensure that the home-support services provided in 2015 are maintained but it will also ensure they are increased.
That was a comprehensive answer to a question I did not ask the Minister of State. I asked for specific details about the number of banked hours. She told me of about 67 people in the Cork and Kerry region who had banked 100 hours or more. How many hours are banked in the system?
I do not think any Deputy in the House would dispute Sinn Féin's position on the matter. We are contacted on a daily basis by people who are very concerned because an elderly relative, a young sick relative or a relative confined to home for any reason is having home-help hours cut. The HSE is cutting the hours to the vulnerable and those who need it the most while at the same time banking the hours of people who want to work. It is also effectively cutting back on those hours. I have asked a fairly simple question and I would appreciate if the Minister of State could answer it directly.
As I mentioned to the Deputy, the information is available locally but has not been collated nationally. That is something the HSE has not done and it believes it would not be possible to allocate the resources to collate those data.
There are a number of reasons for reducing home-help hours. Sometimes it is down to the individual carer for various reasons. In other cases it is due to shortage of funding. We have increased the funding by €40 million for this year, which means that the new base for next year will be €371 million, up from €331 million. As we increase the funding going into home help and home-care packages, that slack will be available for the home-care workers to take up. Unfortunately, I do not have the data the Deputy has requested. It is not accessible to the HSE at the moment, but it is available locally. If the Deputy has any specific local case, she could bring that to me and I could get the information on it.
Specifically, every local figure is required. I have brought that to the Minister of State now and perhaps she could come back to me with the answer.
Some people are put to the pin of their collar now because their home-help services are being cut. The only reviews that happen are reviews with a view to downgrading services. The evidence of people who attend my clinics and those held by my colleagues supports that. The Minister of State has not provided any evidence to dispute it.
Does the Minister of State accept there is a crisis with home-help funding and home-help hours? While the HSE is busy banking hours, some people desperately need those hours, which should be provided. The Department should issue an instruction to the HSE to use all available hours, especially those hours that have been paid for.
Every hour that is available will be used up. All funding that has been allocated for home help and home-care packages will be used up. The 2016 national service plan provides for 10.4 million home-help hours. Home-care packages are measured separately but we need to move towards measuring them in the same way.
On the question of home-care packages, we will be moving from 15,450 people to approximately 21,000 people because of the additional funding that has been provided this year. If we start next year from a higher base and continue to increase it, as we have promised in our programme for partnership Government, then those figures will increase further. It is a major priority for me and is a priority for the Department. We will continue to increase the funding and increase the support services. That will also help the workers.
