Home help services
Deputies Murphy O'Mahony and Kenny raised severe shortages in home help over Christmas and the knock-on effect on hospital discharges and family stress. The Tánaiste said the Government was increasing home support funding significantly and that regional allocation issues could be taken up with the Minister.
I have called all of the Deputies who had not been not in. A number of Deputies have been in once, if not twice. I will start the list. I may have to cut it off. I ask each Deputy to take into consideration that there are other Deputies behind him or her. I remind Deputies of the need for brevity.
Comment on this
The programme for Government contains a commitment to keep people in their homes for as long as possible. It is obvious that the provision of home help services is of assistance in this regard. The ongoing problems with such services have been raised with me all the time since I was elected. This is becoming a significant problem as we approach Christmas. People have come into my office in tears because they have been told they will not get any home help from Christmas Eve until 3 January. People who work as home helpers have told me that they are willing to work over the period in question. What is the real story here? How can people be left without home help for so long over Christmas?
Comment on this
On the same issue, the community healthcare organisation, CHO, in the north west, namely, CHO 1, has received a small increase in funding under the winter scheme that is being rolled out to try to relieve the bed blockers in many of our hospitals. They cannot get out because no home help services are available to them in their homes. People are coming into my office - I am sure they are coming into every office around the country - to say that they are on waiting lists to get home help. The small increase in funding that was provided for in the budget is not nearly adequate to deal with this problem. As we enter into the Christmas period, the Government needs to allocate more money for the home help service across the entire country.
Comment on this
That is exactly what we are doing. An additional investment of €52 million is being made to bring the total funding for home supports next year to €487 million. That will deliver 19.2 million hours of home support in 2020. This represents an increase of 1 million hours on this year's target. Any regional management issues that are encountered as these funds are allocated can be raised with the Minister. The Government has made a significant financial commitment to increase the number of home support hours that are available across the country.