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Minister Daly launches the report on the findings of the public consultation on home-care services
Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Jim Daly, today launched the report on the findings of the Department of Health’s public consultation on home-care services. The consultation, which opened on 6th July 2017 and closed on 2nd October 2017, was undertaken to inform the development of a statutory scheme and system of regulation for home-care services. Over 2,600 responses were received from individuals and stakeholder-organisations. The report on the findings of the public consultation was prepared by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland.
Minister Daly commented:
Home care is a crucial support for the many people across the country who need extra help to live in their own homes and communities. However, these services can and must be improved to better meet the changing needs of our citizens, and they must be put on statute to ensure every citizen has equal access to the services. For that reason, the development of a new statutory home care scheme and associated system of regulation is a key priority for me as Minister for Older People and for the Government. This proposed scheme will allow older people to live longer happier lives in their own homes. We have become very successful as a nation at adding years to life, however we must now work on adding life to those years.
The Minister went on to say
This report provides a high-quality analysis of the submissions to the consultation and will help us to ensure that, in developing the statutory home-care scheme, we address the problems associated with existing service-provision as well as building on emerging good practice. I welcome the strong engagement of service-users, their families, health and community-care professionals and stakeholder organisations in the consultation and look forward to further dialogue throughout the process of developing the new scheme.
The report is available online at https://health.gov.ie/blog/press-release/minister-daly-launches-the-report-on-the-findings-of-the-public-consultation-on-home-care-services/