Absence of carer checks ‘a risk to elderly’

The HSE is paying millions to homecare providers but the sector remains unregulated, leaving thousands of elderly people at risk of poor quality care, abuse and medication errors, an expert in quality healthcare compliance has warned.

Despite a public outcry five years ago after a Prime Time programme revealed appalling standards of care by a number of private home care providers (caring for people in their own homes), the health watchdog, Hiqa, still has no remit to inspect the sector.

This is despite a commitment in the 2011 Programme for Government “to develop and implement national standards for home support services which are subject to inspection by the Health Information and Quality Authority” and a recommendation by the Law Reform Commission in 2012 that the Health Act 2007 be extended to allow Hiqa regulate professional home carers.