John Lahart
Question:719. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to standardise home care rates of pay and benefits across Ireland (details supplied). [9261/22]
View answerTuesday, 22 February 2022
Questions (719, 720, 721, 722)
John Lahart
Question:720. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Health the steps that are being taken to ensure better terms and conditions will be provided to enable Alzheimer's organisations (details supplied) to retain home care staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9262/22]
View answerJohn Lahart
Question:721. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Health if he is considering increasing the funding for organisations (details supplied) to operate a buddy system or to allow new starters to work alongside more experienced staff for a meaningful period of time. [9263/22]
View answerJohn Lahart
Question:722. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Health his views on the need for a review to provide a balance between State providers of home care services and their NGO and private sector counterparts (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9265/22]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 719 to 722, inclusive, together.
The Government is committed to improving community-based services, shifting care to the home, and offering greater choice for older people.
During the lifetime of this Government, I have secured additional funding of €150 million 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 for up to 5 million additional hours of home support last year. Funding for these additional hours has been maintained into 2022.
Preliminary data shows that about 2.9 million more home support hours were delivered by the end of December 2021, compared to the same period in 2020.
I am aware that delays can arise between funding approval and the delivery of home support hours. Certain regions are experiencing increased pressures due to staff availability.
I am committed to establishing a cross-Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to examine strategic workforce challenges, including recruitment and retention of workers, in front-line carer roles in home support and nursing homes. This will include those home support workers providing support to those with Alzheimer's.
The work of this Group will centre on engagement with the relevant stakeholders in the sector. To this end, a 'Call for Submissions' was issued by my Department to relevant stakeholders in December 2021. Following receipt of these completed submissions in January, my Department undertook a short-life scoping exercise to gather initial data and evidence on the nature and extent of the challenges in the sector to inform the structure and membership of this cross-departmental Group.
This scoping exercise is now complete and invitations to join the Group, along with its draft Terms of Reference, have been issued to all relevant Government Departments and agencies. The inaugural meeting of the Group will be held in the week beginning 28th February 2022.
At this meeting, the Terms of Reference for the Group and action timelines will be agreed. These Terms of Reference will be published once finalised by the Group.
This Group will then progress a structured programme of ongoing consultative engagements with key sectoral stakeholders to further explore and define the issues, listen to stakeholder views, and identify approaches to respond to the strategic workforce challenges.
The Group will provide a forum for agreement on strategic approaches to address the workforce challenges in the sector and develop a report for my consideration outlining the Group’s key findings, recommendations, and a proposed action plan to support implementation of these recommendations to include periodic monitoring of progress.
Potential areas to be considered by the Group include recruitment, retention, training, and the career development of front-line carers in home support and nursing homes into the future. It is also expected that pay and conditions for these workers will be examined. Without pre-empting the outcomes of the work of the Group, the buddy system mentioned by the Deputy may emerge as a solution to address the challenges in the sector, however it is too soon to say at this time.
Question No. 720 answered with Question No. 719.
Question No. 721 answered with Question No. 719.
Question No. 722 answered with Question No. 719.