Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has welcomed the launch of a public consultation process on homecare. The consultation is to be carried out in order to help inform the development of a new statutory scheme and a more enlightened system of regulation for home care services.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“I welcome the announcement of this public consultation on the provision of homecare. The current system is clearly inadequate and not delivering for families and our aging population.

“One of the more positive elements of the so called Fair Deal Scheme is that if you qualify for a nursing home place the state is legally obliged to ensure you get a bed. However, the same is not the case for those who require a homecare package. There is currently no legal obligation on the State to ensure one gets what they require. It can often depend on where you live and the scant resources that are available locally. This should not be the case and any cursory look at the current system will expose its shortfalls.

“In my opinion the State should be legally obliged to ensure that, where safe, people should have the legal entitlement to a homecare package. Investment in this area needs to be increased dramatically and Budget 2018 will be pivotal in terms of how serious this Government are in relation to their commitment to alleviate the current crisis in homecare supports.

“There have been some suggestions that the Fair Deal Scheme should be extended to include home supports. My party Sinn Féin do not believe that this is the best way forward.

“The Fair Deal Scheme was designed specifically for long-term residential care. Currently home supports, though inadequate and under-funded, are provided free of charge based on an assessment of need. Sinn Féin believes that these supports should continue to be provided on that basis.

“We need to urgently move to a more enlightened rights based system where vulnerable citizens can receive long term care in their home, in their community, when needed and in turn reduce the current over reliance on acute hospital beds and long term nursing home care.”

ENDS