Evidence Brief: The role, function, and supply of home care workers in four European countries

The Department of Health is developing a statutory scheme for the financing and regulation of home support services, within the broader context of Sláintecare reforms, and in line with the Programme for Government commitment to introduce such a scheme. To support this work the Health Research Board (HRB) was commissioned to develop an evidence brief focusing on two key research questions:

• What is the role of home care workers in providing home care services in four European case countries?
• What are the challenges related to the recruitment and retention of home care workers, and the solutions proposed or implemented in order to address these challenges in the selected case countries?

For the purposes of this evidence brief, only European Union member states and the countries of the United Kingdom were considered for inclusion. The four European countries selected as case studies were:

• Germany
• The Netherlands
• Scotland (UK), and
• Sweden.

The evidence brief builds on the research commissioned by the Department to inform the development of the statutory scheme. The Department of Health will be cognisant of this as further work is undertaken to develop regulations for home support providers and to address the workforce crisis in the sector.