Homecare is an increasingly important part of the supports we offer to older people, and will continue to increase in importance into the future, as our ageing population grows.
Government policy is to promote care in the community for older people so that they can continue to live in their own homes for as long as possible and long-term nursing care should be a last resort after home support and other community based supports have been exhausted. Under this Government that emphasis is being strengthened.
The overall funding for Services for Older People has increased to €765 million in 2017, with over €400 million available for homecare. This additional funding is aimed at allowing people to continue to live in their own homes and at facilitating discharge of older people from acute hospitals and the HSE has set a target to deliver 10.57 million home help hours, 16,750 home care packages and 190 intensive homecare packages this year. Demand for home care services is rising as more people are supported in their own home and there are challenges in managing home care budgets. There is no doubt that the resources available for homecare are less than we need to meet demand, and for that reason the Programme for Partnership Government commits to increasing funding for these services. The increased resources provide additional flexibility to managers who are responsible for meeting these challenges in each geographic area. I must emphasise that prudent management of available resources is needed as demand for services increases.
Home care services are not currently regulated and are provided on the basis of assessed health care need and there is no means-testing. Government accepts the need to regulate the home care sector to ensure consistency of provision, and work on developing an appropriate system is already underway. However, a considerable amount of preparatory work will be needed to develop policy proposals. This will include a public consultation process which is scheduled for May of this year.
