Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 October 2013
192. Deputy Patrick Nulty asked the Minister for Health in view of the fact that the one million hours that have been cut in recent years from home help services, if he will ring fence resources for home help from any further cuts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42834/13]
View answerThe Health Service Executive has committed in its National Service Plan 2013 to maintaining community supports such as home help and home care packages at the levels planned for in 2012. This means that 10.3m hours of home help will be provided with 50,000 people receiving this service, and that 10,870 people will be in receipt of home care packages. On-going regular reviews of home support services by the HSE will help to ensure that service users receive supports that are aligned to their assessed needs and that new applicants can, as far as possible, continue to be processed and allocated appropriate supports within the available resources.
