Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler TD has today (Thursday) welcomed the publication of the HSE’s Winter Plan.
Speaking at the launch of the Plan, Minister Butler said
I would like to welcome launch of the Winter Plan today and to commend the HSE for the broad range of commitments included in it.
This investment of more than €600m demonstrates how seriously we in the Government view the challenges that we can all see are coming toward us over the winter period.
As the Minister for Mental Health and Older People, it is very important to me that the plan has a strong focus on supporting our older people. Our aim must be to provide as much care as possible in the community but where people do require hospital care we must enable them to be discharged back to their own home, with support in the community, as soon as possible.
A vital focus of the Winter Plan is to keep people well at home or near home, out of hospital, living independent lives, facilitated by implementing agreed end to end care pathways between GPs, Community and Hospital services, through Community Healthcare Networks and Specialist Hubs. These initiatives are key to the implementation of the health service reforms as envisioned by Sláintecare.
Minister Butler continued:
I very much welcome the focus in the plan on providing a very substantial increase in the number of home care hours available. I am particularly pleased to see the new “Home First” approach, which emphasises reablement and providing extensive home support packages for those with more complex needs, including people with dementia, who are also being supported through the recruitment of 10 additional dementia advisors.
It is important that we extend the home-based approach to those with moderate and high levels of need, so that it is not just seen as an option for older people with relatively low needs. This expansion of home care is an integral part of the ongoing development of the much-needed Statutory Home Care Scheme, which is also a Programme for Government commitment.
In addition, for those older people who are well enough to leave hospital but not well enough to go home, there will be a significant expansion in Intermediate Care capacity.
This approach works very well in providing rehabilitation support for older people or to support a measured transition into residential care. These intermediate care beds in the community will also support keeping older people out of hospital in the first place.
I fully support the aims of the Winter Plan and I would like to offer my thanks to the staff of the HSE who worked hard behind the scenes to prepare it. I would also like to highlight the ongoing work and commitment of the HSE as a whole in helping to keep the country going through these unprecedented and often challenging times.