Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 November 2021
656. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Health his plans to address the shortage in home care providers and the impact this is having on ability for families to care for their loved ones in the home. [58848/21]
View answerGovernment has prioritised improved access to home support services. Last year additional funding of €150 million was secured for home support to progress the development of a reformed model of service delivery to underpin the statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home-support services and to provide 5 million additional hours of home support. The HSE National Service Plan sets a target to provide 24 million hours of home support this year and it is estimated that at the end of September some 15 million hours had been provided to over 53,000 people. This is about 2.2 million more hours compared to the same period last year.
The funding secured in Budget 2021 to provide these additional 5 million hours has been maintained for 2022.
Significant inroads have been achieved in reducing waiting lists for funding approval for new or additional service from over 7,800 in January 2020 to just under 400 last September. This has been achieved through a combination of validation of the waiting list and availability of funding to address those waiting.
However, there is a delay between the approval of funding and the delivery of home support hours and the numbers of people in both categories have increased steadily this year. At the end of September 2021, there were 4,933 people assessed and waiting for a carer to become available, in January 2020 there was about 1,300 people in this category. Certain areas that are experiencing increased pressures due to staff availability are particularly affected. Despite the increase, it is important to note that the total number of people waiting for home support across both categories has reduced from over 9,000 at the start of 2020 to approximately 5,300 at the end of September.
The HSE is aware that there are increasing capacity issues across both direct and indirect provision and it continues to advertise on an ongoing basis for Health Care Assistants and recruits as many suitable candidates, where possible. The HSE conducts its recruitment through a variety of channels both locally and nationally.
Due to the nature of Healthcare Support Assistant posts, this recruitment is normally conducted at a very local level and is on-going continually across the HSE. Approved Home Support Providers also continue to recruit home support workers.
Work is ongoing within the Department to progress the development of the new statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes within the broader context of the Sláintecare reforms.
Recruitment of the 130 posts funded for the national rollout of interRAI as the standard assessment tool for care needs is scheduled to commence in this quarter. In addition, A National Home Support Office is in the process of being established. The testing of the reformed model of service delivery for home support commenced ?in November 2021 in one pilot site, with other pilot sites to be fully operational by January 2022.
I am committed to establishing a Cross Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group. The role of the group will be to facilitate the views of stakeholders and examine workforce challenges in home support and nursing homes. Potential areas to be considered include recruitment, retention, training, career development, and the sustainable employment of home support workers and nursing home workers into the future.
