Home care package funding
Deputy John Curran raised difficulty accessing home help and home care despite increased allocations. The Minister said home care was a priority, pointed to increased numbers and spending, and said a consultation process was being established.
There is a commitment in the programme for Government to increase funding every year for home care packages and home help services. Yesterday when the Taoiseach was answering questions from Deputy Danny Healy-Rae, he said: "Extra money has been allocated for home help and extra hours are being worked." He continued: "The overall allocation has increased and the number of hours has increased." I was concerned because people presenting at my clinic were having difficulty in accessing home help hours. I took the liberty of asking the Minister who, in turn, asked the HSE to respond to me. I wanted to see if I was seeing the rate of increase that might have been expected. In 2016, in my part of Dublin, there were 166,471 home help hours. In 2017, there were 166,471 which means that the number of home help hours in my part of Dublin in 2017 is exactly the same as that in 2016. The level of expenditure is also the same. The programme for Government acknowledged that there would be an increase. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said there was an increase. If the increase is on a global basis, people living in my area have been discriminated against. Will the Minister clarify the position?
Comment on this
This is an area which has very considerable priority. The Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, is establishing a consultation process on the issue of home care support because home caring will become a real challenge in the future. There are 55,000 people receiving carer's allowance and 17,000 receiving a home care package, with 11 million home help hours. As they all represent increases on the figures for the years before, there is increased investment. In total, it represents about €1 billion of investment in home caring, but the Government recognises that we need more flexible models. The Minister of State responsible, Deputy Helen McEntee, is looking at how we can integrate some of them and perhaps look at other elements such as the tax relief now provided. Can we design a better long-term support package to keep people independent in their homes, which is a shared objective across the House?