General Scheme of the Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill 2024

The Health (Amendment)(Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill seeks to amend the Health Act of 2007 to provide for a licensing framework for home support providers, while making it an offence to operate a home support service without a licence and incorporating transitional arrangements for existing home support providers.

The General Scheme will introduce a licensing framework for home support providers who will be required to meet minimum requirements set out under Ministerial regulations in order to provide a home support service in Ireland. This framework will be further supported by national quality standards which will be developed by HIQA. This will act to safeguard service users, to raise the quality and consistency of care nationally and will represent further progress in meeting the Programme for Government commitment of a statutory home support scheme.

Additionally, it will introduce a statutory framework to provide independent oversight of these minimum standards by conferring on HIQA’s Chief Inspector the authority to grant, amend and ultimately revoke a license if home support providers fail to meet minimum requirements set out in regulations. The Chief Inspector will be responsible for monitoring and assessing compliance of registered home support providers against regulations and HIQA standards. This regulatory framework and inspection process will ensure quality standards are met and will help build public confidence in the expanding provision of home support.