Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 December 2022
114. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health the action that is being taken to address the shortage of care workers in home support and long-term residential care for older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61072/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraAddressing the shortage of care-workers in Ireland is an urgent priority for the Government. To this end, I established the cross-departmental Strategic Workforce Advisory Group in March 2022 to examine, and formulate recommendations to address, the challenges in front-line carer roles in the home-support and long-term residential care sectors. Working closely with key stakeholders, the Group examined the recruitment, retention, training, career-development, and pay and conditions of care-workers.
The Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Healthcare Assistants 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 areas of recruitment, pay and conditions of employment, barriers to employment, training and professional development, sectoral reform, and monitoring and implementation.
I strongly endorse all of the Group's recommendations and work towards their implementation has commenced. I will be closely monitoring this implementation on an on-going basis to ensure that the recommendations are enacted in a full and timely manner.
