Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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227. To ask the Minister for Health if he will extend the policy of personalisation for budgets and services to older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23631/22]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Home Support Service is funded by Government to deliver a volume of service each year as approved in the HSE National Service Plan. It is a non-statutory service and access to the current service is based on assessment of the person's needs by the HSE and having regard to the available resources and competing demands for the services from those people with assessed needs.

NSP 2022 provides for the following:

- Rollover of the 2021 target levels of service into 2022, inclusive of the additional 5m hours funded in 2021 to 23.67m hours nationally;

- 360,000 hours provided via Intensive Home Care Packages; and

- 170,400 hours associated with the roll-out of the pilot Statutory Home Support Scheme, which commenced in late 2021.

Despite the significant level of service provision, the demand for Home Support, and its importance as an alternative service to long stay care, has grown considerably over the past number of years. Similarly, the type of Home Support that is now required to meet the needs of the population is a more person-centred personal care model.

The HSE has commenced scoping out the use of personalised budgets as an alternative to the current model of home support service delivery. However, considerations such as governance, adherence to standards, employee/employer relationship, financial oversight, potential legislative impact, etc. will need to be need to be addressed prior to the introduction of any formal policy on the use of personalised home support budgets.

Another option which is available to Home Support clients is that of Consumer Directed Home Support (CDHS). It is an option for persons who apply for Home Support and who wish to have more control and choice over their care delivery in keeping with the principles of empowerment and autonomy inherent in person-centred care. When a client is approved for a Home Support Service and HSE staff are not available to deliver the service, then an external provider, who has been approved by the HSE under Tender 2018 Arrangements, will deliver the service on their behalf. The CDHS approach facilitates clients to deal directly with HSE Approved Provider(s) of their choice and to arrange days and times of service delivery.

Further information on Consumer Directed Home Support can be found at the following link:

www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/national-guidelines-and-procedures-for-the-standardised-implementation-of-the-home-support-service-hss-guidelines.pdf

Notwithstanding the above, it is important to note, that when a client is approved for Home Support, commencement of the service is dependent on carer capacity and funding being available for that service. Clients who are approved for a Home Support service, and where carers and/or funding is not readily available at that time, are placed on a waiting list until such time as either a carer or funding becomes available.

The Department is currently engaged in a detailed process to develop a new stand-alone, statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home support services. Developing a new statutory 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.