Health Services Provision

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Questions (1517)

David Cullinane

Question:

1517. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health if he has discussed home first policy measures with other Departments such as the Departments of Justice, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and Enterprise, Trade and Employment on ways to increase and ensure that Ireland has a sufficient pool of qualified home carers to fulfil the home first policy in respect of home care in the years ahead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14514/21]

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Written answers

Minister for Health

The Programme for Government (2020) commits to the introduction of “a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes, which will provide equitable access to high-quality, regulated home care.” In this regard, my Department is in the process of developing a statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support.

As part of this work, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is undertaking a programme of research on behalf of the Department on the demand for, and cost of, home support. Following this, work will be undertaken to examine the associated workforce requirements for the introduction of such a scheme and my Department will engage with other sectors as required in this regard.