The Department of Health expressed its concern to the HSE for “rationing” home support last year to stay within budget, arguing it would have a “detrimental impact on individuals and the system as a whole”.
Robert Watt, secretary general of the department, wrote to HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster on October 7th on the issue.
In the letter, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, he noted the Government had allocated more than €120 million in additional funding for home support, which he said would “fund the HSE to deliver up to 24 million hours” this year.
“However, based on projections you supplied I recognise the amount of funding currently allocated for home support in 2024 is not sufficient to meet the projected level of activity,” he said.
Teens accused of ‘savagely’ beating man (60s) in south Dublin burglary freed due to lack of detention spaces
Rory Stewart: Britons’ view of Ireland has gone from ‘patronising superiority to complete ignorance’
‘You can now carry your shopping if you spend €50-€60. That’s absolutely crazy’
After being quoted up to €25,000 for floors, this handy Wicklow couple did it themselves for €1,500
“I am advised that the low rate of churn in home support activity means that it would be virtually impossible at this stage for home support activity to be delivered within budget by year end, without significant and unwelcome impacts on individuals and their families.”
Mr Watt referred to the HSE area known as CHO 1 – covering Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan and Monaghan – which he said was “curtailing activity to manage its overspending by allocating available hours only to new packages, not to those who need additional hours”.
The department was “not in favour of this approach, which will have detrimental impacts on individuals and the system as a whole”, he said. “As we head into the winter, people must have access to the care they need and good patient flows must be maintained within our integrated care systems.”
He said the additional activity should be “manageable in the context of the €3 billion settlement on the HSE and a record €25.8 billion budget”.
“I am therefore requesting that the HSE examine its projected expenditure to year end across all activity areas to identify savings that can be made and offset against the projected additional activity,” Mr Watt said.
Despite the criticism, he commended the HSE on the expansion of home support in recent years, saying it had grown from 17.9 million hours in 2019 to a projected 24 million hours this year.
An HSE spokeswoman said home support hours increased 7.4 per cent last year when compared to 2023.
“Home support budgets for 2025 have been allocated to each region and the HSE continues to monitor activity against targets and expenditure against allocated budget,” she said.
