Caring isn't a career that you ‘sell’ but a calling to be nurtured

Ireland needs to incorporate new technologies that assist the traditional home care model and bring acute hospital care closer to the home

At its annual conference last October, Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) anticipated that up to 800 new carers would be needed in the private sector to provide the additional 4.7m home care hours as set out in the HSE winter plan.

“The HSE took a pragmatic decision last July to support increased recruitment into caring,” HCCI chief executive Joseph Musgrave explains. “This meant providers could recruit more widely than before and it has been a great success.”