The waiting list for home care support is a “waiting list lottery”, according to Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI).
The organisation, representing private home care providers, has expressed concerns that efforts by the Government and the HSE to reform the home care sector is progressing too slowly, including the Statutory Home Support Scheme which is due to be implemented next year.
In Wexford, more than 870 people were waiting for access to a home carer last December, while more than 300 were waiting in Waterford, according to the report by the HCCI.
More than 200 people were on the list in Cavan-Monaghan, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Kerry, South Lee in Cork, Meath, Dublin South-West and Dublin West.
In contrast, there was no waiting list in Dublin South-East, Dublin North-Central and Dublin North-West.
North Dublin has the shortest waiting lists relative to the population of over-65s, while the south-east has the longest.
While waiting lists lengthen, the HCCI stated in February that home care was amid the most acute recruitment crisis ever experienced in the sector’s history and there has been little improvement since.
Joseph Musgrave, CEO of the HCCI said: “The Government says that it supports a ‘home first’ policy but its actions, or lack of, says the opposite.
“Our providers are still experiencing significant challenges recruiting carers and clients are facing lengthy waiting lists for a home carer. We need the Government to prioritise home care so that our older and more vulnerable citizens can get the support they need to stay in their own homes and communities.
“To give one example of reform urgently needed - while nursing homes and hospitals are permitted to recruit carers from non-European Economic Area countries, home care providers are prohibited from doing so.
“This is despite the EU endorsing migrant workers as being crucial to the care sector. We urgently need this legislation changed before waiting lists grow any longer.”
