HSE defends its home care services

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The HSE has issued a statement defending its provision of home care services following the publication of a critical report on its services.

A report commissioned by the Irish Private Home Care Association claims that the current service provided by the HSE for the care of Ireland’s elderly population suffers from large-scale inefficiencies and a complete absence of regulation.

The HSE dismissed the report’s financial calculations, which claimed the Executive could save €80 million and care for an additional 16,500 older pople, saying they were inaccurate and also defended its supervision and vetting of its home care staff and the lack of mandatory legislation in the area. It said the National Quality Guidelines for Home Care Support are in the process of being signed off and once this is completed they will be rolled out on a phased basis throughout the system. In the interim, as part of a national tender system for enhanced HSE home care services the tender documents incorporate mandatory quality standards.

In addition, it said the national guidelines for the standardised allocation of home help hours to individual clients have been drawn up and will be implemented during 2010. “Furthermore, National Guide- lines for the Standardised Implementation of Home Care Packages are due to be finalised in the first quarter of 2010 following publication of the Evaluation Report on Home Care Packages undertaken by PA Consulting on behalf of the Department of Health,” said the HSE. These Guidelines, when approved by the Department, will be implemented across the HSE during the second half of 2010

Source: I.M.N

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