Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 November 2022
627. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health if he will provide the name and contact details of the relevant officials within his Department and the HSE that can be contacted by a company to propose solutions to the urgent home care assistant shortages being seen across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58841/22]
View answerAddressing the shortage of care-workers in Ireland is an urgent priority for the Government. To this end, I established the cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group in March 2022 to examine, and formulate recommendations to address, the challenges in front-line carer roles in the home-support and long-term residential care sectors. Working closely with key stakeholders, the Group examined the recruitment, retention, training, career-development, and pay and conditions of care-workers.
The Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Healthcare Assistants was published on 15 October 2022. Providing an overview of the work of the Group and its key findings, the report presents a suite of 16 recommendations spanning the areas of areas of recruitment, pay and conditions of employment, barriers to employment, training and professional development, sectoral reform, and monitoring and implementation.
The Strategic Workforce Advisory Group was chaired by Mr. Paul Rowe, Principal Officer in the Older Persons’ Strategy Unit within the Department of Health. With on-going responsibility for this policy area, Mr. Rowe can be contacted at Older_Persons_Strategy_Unit@health.gov.ie in relation to this area.
I trust that this information will be of assistance to you.
