More than 53,000 people will receive more than 18 million home support hours this year, including 360,000 hours of intensive home care packages. This will assist older people to live independently in their own homes and will enable large numbers of people to return home following acute hospital admission. Despite this significant level of service provision, demand continues to rise with the main reason for the increased demand relating to the demographics in the older people population for the area.
While the existing home support service is delivering crucial support to many people across the country, it needs to be improved to better meet the changing needs of our citizens. The new statutory scheme currently being developed will introduce clear rules in relation to the services for which individuals are eligible and in relation to how decisions are made on allocating services. For that reason, developing the new scheme will be an important step in ensuring that the system operates in a consistent and fair manner for all those who need home support services. It will also help to improve access to the home support services that people need in an affordable and sustainable way. The development of a statutory scheme is a key action contained in the Sláintecare Implementation Strategy and is expected to be delivered in 2021.
I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible in relation to the aspects of the Question pertaining to an individual case.
