Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 October 2023
274. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Health if he is aware of the crisis in home help provision (details supplied); what measures are being put in place to address this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47119/23]
View answerAddressing the shortage of care workers in Ireland is an urgent priority for the Government. To this end, the cross departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group was established in March 2022 to examine, and formulate recommendations to address, the challenges in frontline carer roles in the home support and long-term residential care sectors.
The Group was chaired by the Department of Health and comprised representatives from seven government departments (Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Health; Higher and Further Education, Research, Innovation and Science; Justice; Public Expenditure and Reform; and Social Protection), the HSE, HIQA and SOLAS.
The Report 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 recruitment, pay and conditions of employment, barriers to employment, training and professional development and sectoral reform.
Implementation of the 16 recommendations is being overseen by a cross departmental Implementation Group, chaired by the Department of Health. The Department is actively engaging with recommendation owners to progress the implementation plan. The implementation group meets quarterly and will publish progress reports thereafter.
Recommendation 9 has already been implemented. The Statutory instrument authorising the issuance of 1,000 employment permits for homecare workers was signed on 16 December 2022. Work is underway on all recommendations, with a further four at an advanced stage.
Older people who wish to continue living in their homes for as long as possible are helped and supported every day through our community services.
The delivery of home support hours is increasing year on year. In 2024 we expect to deliver 22 million hours of home support. This is more than has ever been delivered before, with an additional €2.8 million being allocated to meet inflationary pressures.
As this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.
