Safety Check on Carers

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Plans for safety check on carers put off again By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Thursday October 29 2009

HEALTH service guidelines on the vetting and training of carers looking after vulnerable people in their own homes will not be introduced until well into next year. The guidelines -- which cover quality of care and safety checks on carers -- were originally finalised in October 2008 and have already been gathering dust for a year. But Junior Health Minister Aine Brady yesterday said the guidelines had yet to be considered by the department with a view to adopting them as policy within the next year. There is currently no regulation making background checks on -- or training for -- home carers compulsory. Contract Meanwhile, former Supreme Court Judge Catherine Mc Guinness said yesterday that a carer looking after an elderly person in their own home should be subject to a legal contract setting out how money is handled. She was speaking at the launch of the report of the National Economic and Social Forum (NESF) on home care packages. The NESF report highlights how the home packages scheme -- which is geared towards the elderly and people with a disability to provide supports to allow them stay at home -- costs �120m but it is being managed unfairly with no one set of eligibility criteria or assessment. NESF chairwoman Maureen Gaffney said schemes should be monitored on an ongoing basis with constant feedback to managers. The introduction of one set of eligibility criteria is due early next year. Judge Mc Guinness (75), the chairperson of the Law Reform Commission, said the commission will shortly produce its own report which will set out the kind of legislation covering the legal aspects of carers. She pointed out the older generation should be seen as a "bounty" not a "burden". - Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent Irish Independent

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