Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 July 2022
766. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Health the steps that his Department is currently taking to address the challenges of recruitment and retention of staff within the homecare sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38128/22]
View answerI have established a cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group to examine the various challenges across the home care sector. The Group has met five times since March and is currently working with key sectoral stakeholders in a structured programme of ongoing consultative engagements to further explore the issues and identify approaches to respond to the strategic workforce challenges.
Areas being considered by the Group include the recruitment, retention, training, pay and conditions, and the career development of front-line carers in home-support and nursing homes. Ensuring the adequate recruitment and retention of appropriately skilled healthcare support assistants and healthcare assistants is a key objective of this initiative.
The structure and membership of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group was informed by submissions received by my Department from key stakeholders in January 2022 as well as by a short-life scoping exercise to gather initial data and evidence on the extent of the challenges in the sector.
The Group provides a forum for agreement on strategic approaches to address sectoral workforce challenges and will submit a report for my consideration by September 2022. This report will outline the Group's key findings and recommendations.
