Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2016
476. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health if he will amend the nursing home support scheme, to allow for provision of home care, funded under the fair deal scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20842/16]
View answerThe overarching policy of the Government is to support older people to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. Where this is not possible, the Health Service Executive supports access to quality long-term residential care where this is appropriate. It is my objective to ensure that available resources are deployed to achieve the best possible outcomes for older people.
The home help service is provided to assist principally older people to live in their own home. Services are provided on the basis of assessed need and there is no means-testing. The HSE's National Service Plan for 2016 projects that 10.4m home help hours will be provided this year and that 15,450 people will be in receipt of a home care package. The provision of these services is regularly reviewed at national and local levels, in the context of assessed client need against resource availability and deployment. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to increasing provision for home supports so that we can better respond to the preferences of older people to stay at home for as long as they can.
The Review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), published in July 2015, considered the way that residential care is currently balanced with care in the community, and endorses the Government's view that effective community supports can reduce the reliance of older people on residential nursing home care.
The NHSS could not be extended to cover home care in its existing form, as under the NHSS, participants contribute towards the costs of their care in accordance with their means, with a large proportion paying 80% of their income for this purpose. This would not work in the community as service users would still have to meet their day to day living expenses. It must also be recognised that while differences arise in the dependency levels of residents, the NHSS generally provides a fairly standard level of service and thus lends itself to a standardised support system, whereas home services can vary much more widely.
However, I will be keeping existing arrangements for delivering home supports under review, and it is certainly possible that a more structured approach to home care, possibly with a legislative underpinning, could be considered in the future if it can be shown to make sense.
A Single Assessment Tool is already being developed which will allow for much more consistent and objective assessment of the needs of older people and as a result a better targeting of available resources to where they are most needed, and will deliver the best outcomes.
