Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
787. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Health his plans to address the staff shortage in the delivery of enhanced homecare packages and home help support; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11682/22]
View answerThe Government is committed to the development of improved community-based services, shifting care to the home, and offering greater choice for older people. As Minister with responsibility for this area I have prioritised home support services so that additional funding secured in Budget 2021 to provide an extra 5 million hours has been maintained under Budget 2022. It is estimated that in 2021 some 20.4 million hours had been provided to over 55,000 people. This is about 2.9 million more hours compared to 2020, an increase of 17%.
It takes some time between funding approval and the actual delivery of home support hours. Certain regions are experiencing increased pressures due to staff availability. At the end of December there were 5,322 people assessed and waiting for a carer to become available. A further 474 people were waiting for funding approval. To address this, the HSE is endeavouring to prioritise service for clients with the highest care needs, to ensure that the service can commence for those who require it most urgently. It is important to note that progress is being made in this area, and 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 5,796 by the end of December 2021.
In relation to issues of recruitment and retention, I am committed to establishing a cross-Departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group, to examine strategic workforce challenges in front-line carer roles in home support and nursing homes.
The work of the Strategic Workforce Advisory 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 on Thursday, 3rd March 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.
