To ask the Minister of Health to detail any measures his Department is taking to address the shortage of domiciliary care workers in (i) rural areas; and (ii) coastal areas.

The issue of shortage of homecare (domiciliary care) workers in rural areas is largely because of two things: Either there are none or few people who live in this area that are interested in applying for work in this field or because provider organisations are not willing to travel to rural areas. The latter can be for a number of reasons, such as: some providers do not pay a travel allowance; some providers can find delivery of packages of care economically unviable and may choose packages of care in urban areas where the travel distance between calls is less and therefore more profitable; some care workers do not have a car or indicate a preference to work only in a specific area(s).

One of the HSC Trusts are trialling paying an enhanced rate for rural areas to encourage providers to pick up these calls. This is at an early stage, but results are positive so far. Another Trust is hoping to enhance their team profile in a very rural part of Fermanagh where there is a high level of unmet need to include a reablement focus to ensure people have an opportunity to reach their full potential and therefore may not need a long-term homecare package.

It is hoped that the introduction of the real living wage for homecare workers will attract more staff into this area of work.

The issues referenced above would be similar for coastal areas.