John Curran
Question:449. Deputy John Curran asked the Minister for Health the progress made to date regarding the development of a new statutory home care scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53346/18]
View answerTuesday, 18 December 2018
Questions (449)
Written answers
The Department of Health is currently developing policy proposals for the future financing and regulation of home-support services. The recently published Sláintecare Implementation Strategy commits to the introduction of the new statutory scheme in 2021.
The new scheme will introduce clear rules in relation to the services for which individuals are eligible and in relation to service-allocation. The system of regulation for home-support will help to ensure that the public can be confident that the services provided are of a high standard. The new scheme will be designed to support family/unpaid carers and will be integrated with other health and social care services, such as long-term residential care (including the Nursing Homes Support Scheme), primary and community care, and hospital services.
As an initial step in the development of the new scheme, the Department of Health commissioned the Health Research Board to undertake a review of the home-care systems in place in four European countries. The review, which was published last April, will help to ensure that Ireland’s new home-care scheme and system of regulation is informed by international experience. In addition a public consultation on the financing and regulation of home-care was undertaken last year. A report on the findings of the consultation was published on 26th June and will inform the development of the new scheme.
The Department is also progressing various work-streams in order to deliver on the goal of implementing the statutory scheme. On-going work includes research to inform the conceptualisation of the overarching aim, objectives, actions and outcomes of the statutory scheme and the compilation of the data required for a review of the management, operation and funding of existing services. Further consultation will take place as the new scheme is developed.
The development of a statutory scheme and system of regulation for adult home-support services is a complex undertaking. While to date important steps have been taken towards the development of the new scheme, a significant amount of additional work remains to be carried out before final decisions are taken on the form that it will take. This is required if the reforms are to be successful, affordable and sustainable. While the new home-support scheme is under development, the Department of Health and Health Service Executive (HSE) are continuing efforts to incrementally improve the existing home-support services.