Oireachtas committee to hear of 'acute' recruitment crisis in homecare services
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Home care services are facing “the most acute recruitment crisis” in the history of the sector, the Oireachtas Health Committee will hear tomorrow.
A discussion on the state of home care packages will take place against a backdrop of lengthening waiting lists despite a significant funding boost for the sector during the pandemic. Over 500 people were waiting for a home care package, or for their hours to be increased, in Cork alone before Christmas.
The national HSE waiting list stands at 4,825 people.
The committee will hear on Wednesday that contracts and tenders, agreed between the HSE and private providers, should be revisited to allow for wage increases to make the sector more attractive when recruiting.
It will hear from agencies involved in providing care as well as Care Alliance and advocacy group, Age Action, and trade unions representing workers in the sector.
Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI), which represents private home care providers, will say its members need to hire an extra 3,000 staff to cover the 24 million hours of homecare funded by the HSE for 2022.
The committee is expected to hear that the Cross-Departmental Workforce Advisory Group, set up by Minister for State Mary Butler, should make interim recommendations on the recruitment crisis by May to inform Budget 2023.
HCCI will argue the sector should be supported to recruit more quickly than is currently possible, including improving pay and conditions, more training options and a more structured career development pathway.
HCCI will call, on behalf of its members, for tender payments to increase when awarding HSE contracts. It is expected to say this will allow for increased pay and better working conditions for home care staff.
“HSE sets the conditions of the market,” it will argue.
It will also highlight the lack of payment for travel costs which affect most home care workers as a direct result of current procurement practices.
The HSE will be urged to recognise an “on the job” training module it has developed with the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.
The committee is expected to hear calls for carers from outside the EU/EEA to become eligible to apply for employment permits for homecare in the same way they can apply for work in hospitals or nursing homes.
Speaking before the hearing HCCI chief executive Joseph Musgrave said: “The harsh reality of this recruitment crisis is that thousands of people, with conditions ranging from dementia to post-fall rehabilitation, must appeal to the kindness of friends or family to get them out of bed in the morning.”
He said lack of homecare means people having to go into nursing homes who could in many cases be supported at home for longer.
“This is as a result of home care workforce challenges being ignored for far too long."
Age Action is expected to tell the committee on Wednesday that homecare should support people to “ live in their own home with dignity and independence for as long as possible”.
They will focus on progress around development of a statutory homecare system which will allow families to draw down funding for homecare in the way they can now for nursing homes.
Director of policy and advocacy Celine Clarke will share feedback from older people who need support to avoid going into nursing homes.
This feedback is expected to include comments like: “This is critically important for older people who do not wish to be warehoused for the last years of their lives. Older people need to be valued rather than be seen as a burden.”
They will raise concerns about the “inequity between different HSE regions, where different levels of resources and different rules apply” with carers in some counties getting travel allowances and others not.
Recruitment challenges and the need to improve working conditions for homecare staff are also expected to be a central concern.