Following a call for submissions from relevant stakeholders, I established the cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group in March 2022. The remit of the Group is to identify—and formulate recommendations to address—strategic workforce challenges in the home-support and nursing home sectors. Accordingly, the Group is examining issues such as the recruitment, retention, training, career-development, and pay and conditions of front-line carers in these sectors so that solutions can be found.
To date the Group has met four times and is scheduled to meet again in July. The Group’s deliberations have been informed by a structured programme of stakeholder-engagement consisting of a series of bi-lateral meetings and a facilitated workshop, which was held on 23rd May. Engagement with key stakeholders in the home-support and nursing home sectors continues to inform the Group’s exploration of the issues arising.
In addition, the work of the Group will be informed by an evidence review of the role, function, and supply of home-support workers in four European countries, which the Department of Health has commissioned from the Health Research Board. This will provide insight into home-support workers’ employment-conditions internationally.
A report outlining the Group’s key findings and recommendations will be submitted to me by September 2022.
