Health Service Executive (HSE) boss Bernard Gloster said the organisation regrets how 6,400 people who have been approved for home care are still awaiting the service.
It comes as the HSE continues to negotiate with private home care providers as part of what Mr Gloster described as “very complex tendering processes”.
The issue was raised at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by its chairman, Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley.
The representative body for private providers, Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI), has been warning that home care services for more than 40,000 people have been jeopardised in the absence of a new HSE tender.
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Discussions have been ongoing since the start of last year to agree a new tender between the HSE and home care service providers.
Mr Stanley said that services for 40,000 recipients of private home care are “hanging in the balance” and thousands of others have not gotten home care because of the “lack of providers”.
He said he understands there are challenges relating to the workforce, issues of living wage for workers, and the private providers saying they are not receiving enough money.
Mr Stanley asked if Mr Gloster was confident the issues can be resolved in the next fortnight.
Mr Gloster said the home care service “is subject to very complex tendering processes and other expert reports including a workforce advisory group.”
He said that at the end of March, the hours targeted to be provided by the HSE was 5.84 million and the actual activity was 5.2 million.
The amount of people targeted to be provided with a service was 55,000 and the actual number was 56,980.
Mr Gloster said there are “ongoing negotiations with the providers and engagement between the HSE and the Department [of Health]” and there are “significant commercial sensitivity matters within that”.
He denied reports that the HSE had made a specific offer and had withdrawn it as saying: “that’s not the case”.
The PAC was told there are currently 6,400 people approved for home care who are waiting for it to be delivered adding: “I think that’s the concern that you expressed chair and that’s to our regret.”
He said he as discussed the matter with the Department of Health every day in recent days and spoke to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly about it on Wednesday evening.
Mr Gloster said: “While I don’t want to in any way influence the discussions that are ongoing or the potential outcome of any process that remains I do hope the matter will come to a resolution at a very, very early stage.”
