Sir, – Carol Coulter’s article (Opinion, June 7th), while rightly calling for the need for minimum standards for anyone providing care to children or older people, displays a serious misunderstanding of the regulatory issues affecting the private providers of health care by blaming the motivation of providers. Regulation is needed for all providers of care be it HSE, not-for-profit or for-profit providers.
Poor care is not caused by the profit motivation or otherwise of providers, but rather by poor management, training and lack of oversight. In the home care sector, this week Pamela Duncan highlighted in this paper (June 4th & 5th) the impact of the lack of inspections in 80 complaints made about the HSE’s home help service in 2012. Home help provision is provided entirely by the HSE, or HSE-funded non-for-profit organisations. The private sector is not eligible to tender for home help care provision.
An exposé by Prime Time in November 2010 found poor practices in the delivery of care. Half the programme was dedicated to a not-for-profit provider, based out of a HSE health centre. A follow-up Prime Time programme in April 2012, focused on two not-for-profit care providers. A recent Home and Community Care Ireland report highlighted that nearly one third of the HSE budget spent on not-for-profit providers is compromised by some form of investigation into the providers.
It is clear that in the Irish home care sector the profit motivation or otherwise of providers is not a determinant of whether issues exist with the provision of care.
Home and Community Care Ireland, an association of private providers, was the first to call for regulation of home care in 2006. Standards enshrined in legislation are needed, and the supervision of these standards should be done independently by a body such as Hiqa. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HARTY,
Co-Chair,
Home and Community Care
Ireland,
Fairview Strand,
Dublin 3.