Vol. 395 No. 3
162 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Health if he will clarify the extra numbers of home helps and public health nurses to be recruited in 1990 in order to develop and strengthen community care services, with particular reference to the elderly living in the community; and the projected national spread throughout the eight health boards of these extra staff.
My Department will be writing to the health boards shortly informing them of their share of the additional funds announced in the budget to strengthen home help and home nursing services for the elderly. Funds will be allocated to the health boards for these services on the basis of their percentage of the national elderly population. It will be a matter for each health board to deploy these resources to improve the home nursing and home help services as recommended in the report, The Years Ahead — A Policy for the Elderly. At this point it is not possible to indicate the number of additional persons who may be needed to expand the services.
