The decision by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to put home-help services out to tender will reduce standards of care for vulnerable patients and is part of a policy of “privatisation by stealth”, the trade union Siptu has claimed.
At a protest outside the Dáil today about 150 home-helps, who work either directly for the HSE or not-for-profit organisations, called on the executive to engage with unions on its tender for “enhanced home-care services”.
“This tender process is happening in secret, and we don’t know how they are setting the criteria for this tender. The HSE won’t talk to us about it. This protest is about shaming them into talking to us,” said Siptu health sector organiser Louise O’Reilly.
She said many existing home helps have already had their hours reduced, even before the tender competition had been completed.
Siptu says the tender is worth some €138 million and will lead to the privatisation of care, lower wages for staff and reduced standards of care for patients.
Home-care services provide elderly people with specialist support in their homes. This can include nursing, allied therapy services, day care, respite care and additional home help support.
The HSE began a national procurement process for the provision of enhanced home-care services last October. The tender is under way and when completed, it will result in a range of approved providers from the private sector providing home help services.
In a statement the HSE said demand for home care services has increased and there is a need to provide high quality and flexible services that meet the needs of clients. It said the approved providers would meet the required minimum standards, such as staff qualifications and training, recruitment and vetting of staff. It said the tender would only affect home care package scheme clients and not general home help services.
This year the HSE will spend €211 million on home-help services and €138 million home care packages.
At the protest outside the Dáil several home helps claimed their hours had already been cut prior to the completion of the tender.
Violet Carroll, who works as a home-help in West Cork, said her hours had been cut by seven hours per week over the past year. “When a patient dies they [the HSE] don’t pass on new hours to home-helps by bringing extra patients onto the system . . . . We know at least six people who need home-helps but aren’t getting them,” said Ms Carroll.