South-East has highest number of elderly waiting for homecare
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There are more elderly people on homecare waiting lists in the South-East than in any other part of the country, new figures show.
The highest waiting lists are in the South Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow/Kilkenny region known as HSE community healthcare organisation five.
The national homecare waiting list at the end of last year reached 5,222 and this region accounted for 1,521 people compared to 796 across Cork and Kerry and 523 across Clare, Limerick, and North Tipperary.
North Dublin, which includes parts of the capital, has the lowest waiting lists with just 74, the analysis by Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) shows.
It relies on HSE data and information provided to TDs through parliamentary queries for this report 'The Waiting List Lottery'.
Elderly people receive free homecare delivered by a mix of directly-employed HSE carers along with private and voluntary organisations working on HSE contracts. The report found:
“Dublin commuter towns and areas like Galway and Clare all have a high percentage of indirectly-delivered care.”
The analysis shows that almost all care across the Dublin urban region is offered by private or voluntary providers.
HSE figures quoted in the report show that last year 55,043 people or 8.8% of over 65s received homecare through the HSE Home Support Services, equating to 20,463,216 hours.
This was split into 36.81% delivered directly by the HSE and 63.19% by private and voluntary companies.
HCCI, the representative body for private providers, found the percentage of care offered by non-HSE companies increased from 56% in 2018 to 63% last year.
The North Dublin region delivered the most HSE-funded homecare hours last year at 2,169,914 and this was fully delivered by private or voluntary providers.
The next busiest was the Cork/Kerry region with 1,799,284 hours. The report found 22.5% was through other providers under contract to the HSE.
The South-East region including Waterford saw 1,253,324 hours delivered and 30.19% was delivered through non-HSE companies under contract to the State.
Across the Mid-West 1,084,414 homecare hours were delivered, with 35.5% coming directly through the HSE.
The report notes the “recruitment difficulties” facing both private and HSE companies, and said significant resources are being put into this by the private sector, aiming to offer more flexible hours to entice staff.
It found funding increased between 2020 and 2021 by more than €150m, but states: “The increase in funding was not matched with a homecare workforce strategy, leaving Ireland in the current situation where funding is readily available but is not matched with a sufficient supply of HCW (homecare workers)”.