merrion street

Health Minister James Reilly this afternoon briefed the Cabinet on the financial challenges facing the HSE.

The Minister informed the Cabinet that he has instructed the HSE to continue to provide services to people in receipt of personal assistant services in accordance with their needs. While savings have to be achieved out of the total disability budget of €1.4b per annum, the Minister has told the HSE to distribute adjustments across the sector with a focus on cutting administration, training and travel costs, and better cash management by agencies involved. The Minister has requested that the HSE work with agencies to minimise the impact on services within the disability sector.

With regard to home care packages and home help hours, the Minister has clarified that, as is currently the practice, the HSE will assess each case according to their individual needs.

The Minister will receive regular reports from the HSE on the measures and will keep regularly reviewing the application of these measures to ensure that they are being applied as fairly and sympathetically as possible.