Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 October 2017
298. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the reason full-time staff employed by the HSE for home help are excluded from the general staffing numbers in the HSE; his views on whether this is appropriate and respects the dignity of the HSE employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42521/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraDirectly employed HSE home help workers are regarded as employees and are recorded on HSE payrolls. While the HSE records data for home help workers, they are not currently included in the general staffing numbers for historical reasons.
Home help workers were not always classified as employees. Following a Labour Court ruling in 1997, home help workers established employment status. This led to 4,000 WTE (12,000 headcount) home help numbers being collected as part of health service personnel statistics. It was decided to report them separately to avoid a sudden 4,000 increase in overall WTE numbers. In addition, in some counties, home help services are provided exclusively by Section 39 agencies and consequently, home help workers are not employed by the HSE in those locations. As a result, for these counties, the WTE value would be zero, leading to a potential impression of staffing shortages in these counties.
Accepting the desirability for consistent reporting of both pay and numbers, and acknowledging the need to allow for comparison across years, my Department, the HSE and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are engaging on this issue in relation to future reporting.
It should be noted that home help workers have, for some time, acquired all the same terms and conditions of employment, including pension entitlements, as any other cohort of staff and are not differentiated on that basis.
