How do I get HSE home support for my mum or dad in 2026?

Most families come to home support at a turning point: a fall, a hospital stay, or Mam struggling with the mornings. What people still call home help is now the HSE Home Support Service.

Last updated: 1 October 2026. Every fact below is linked to its source.

In this guide

• What it covers
• Who qualifies
• How to apply
• The needs assessment
• How many hours
• The waiting list
• Applying from hospital
• Appeals and reviews
• The statutory scheme
• While you wait
• Questions families ask
• Sources

What is HSE Home Support, and what does a home support worker do?

The HSE says the service helps older people stay in their own homes for as long as possible. HSE staff, or a provider approved by the HSE, gives the care, and every task follows your parent's care plan, according to the HSE's duties list for its care assistants.

What home support covers, and what it does not

Help with	Covered?
Getting in and out of bed, showering, dressing	Yes. This is the core of the service.
Toileting and continence care	Yes.
Reminders to take medication	Yes, as set out in the care plan.
Preparing meals, shopping for food	If the care plan includes it.
Housework	Only essential jobs that keep the home safe for your parent.
Respite for a family carer	Only where the care plan specifically includes it.
24-hour care	No. Funding is limited, says Citizens Information.
Replacing care the family already gives	No.
Hours beyond what the HSE approves	Only if you pay for them.

Is HSE home support means tested, and who qualifies?

No. Citizens Information says the service is free, income is not assessed, and no medical card is needed.

It is for people aged 65 or over who need help to keep living at home or to return home after a hospital stay. Some people under 65 qualify, for example with early onset dementia or a disability. Your parent can apply from home, hospital or a nursing home.

The test is need, not money. The declaration on the application form warns that if other community services can meet your parent's needs, they may not get home support at that time.

How do you apply for HSE home support?

No referral is needed. Your parent can fill in the form themselves, the HSE says, though a son or daughter often does it with them.

1. Get the form. Download the application form or ask the local Home Support Office. HSE Live on 1800 700 700 will post the information out.
2. Gather the details: PPS number, Eircode, GP, and any community services already in place, such as a public health nurse, meals on wheels or day care.
3. Decide who fills it in. Your parent, or a spouse or partner, an adult child, a family carer, a GP or nurse, or another registered professional.
4. Add the public health nurse in Part 8, if your parent sees one. They or a GP can help with the whole form.
5. Use Part 9. It is free text, and the HSE asks for as much information as possible. Describe a real day: the falls, the mornings, the nights, and what family already does.
6. Consider Part 10, Consumer Directed Home Support: a weekly HSE funding amount and your own choice of approved provider.
7. Sign and post it. Your parent signs the Part 12 declaration unless someone is legally allowed to sign for them. Post it to the Home Support Office for their area.

If there is an enduring power of attorney or other formal decision support arrangement, send copies, never originals.

What happens at the needs assessment?

Once the form arrives, the HSE arranges a needs assessment, usually by a public health nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist. They look at:

• how your parent manages bathing, dressing, shopping and moving around
• the services they already get
• the family and community support around them
• their own wishes and preferences

The support offered may be at home or elsewhere, such as a day centre, and the HSE writes with its decision. If your parent tends to say they are managing fine, have someone there who knows what the mornings are like.

How many hours of home support will my parent get?

There is no fixed amount. The hours follow the assessment, and the decision tells you the weekly hours, says Family Carers Ireland, itself an approved provider. The service cannot provide 24-hour care.

For scale, the HSE's May 2026 data shows 2,252,929 hours delivered that month and 62,011 people getting home support at the end of it. That is roughly eight hours a week each. Treat it as a rough average: the HSE's definitions show the hours include paid staff leave and some hours outside older people's services.

How long is the waiting list, and what affects it?

At the end of May 2026, 5,286 people had been assessed and were waiting, by the HSE's figures. That includes people waiting for a first service and people approved for more hours. The HSE's target is 4,500 by the end of 2026. Family Carers Ireland cites HSE figures of 5,600 at the end of 2025.

Where your parent lives matters. At the end of May the figure ranged from 361 in HSE Dublin and Midlands to 1,146 in Dublin and North East, with the other four regions between 780 and 1,123.

The HSE's definition of the list names two causes: waiting for care staff, and waiting for funding approval. When offered the list of approved providers, choose more than one, as your first choice may not be available.

What happens if my parent is in hospital?

Apply from the ward. The HSE says to ask whoever manages the discharge plan for the form, as early in the stay as possible. Citizens Information says that may be a nurse, a discharge coordinator or a social worker, who can help fill it in and send it.

If approved in hospital, your parent may get support to help them home, and is reassessed shortly after getting there. Our guide to leaving hospital after a fall covers the discharge meeting and a home safety checklist.

How do you appeal or ask for a review?

If home support is refused, write to the local Home Support Office within 20 days of the letter, explaining why you are not satisfied. The HSE reviews the decision and tells you the outcome. Citizens Information says the same 20 days applies to the decision on what supports your parent needs.

If your parent's situation changes, such as a hospital admission or a respite stay, tell the office. The HSE reviews the support and may increase it, reduce it or keep it the same. You can send complaints about the service to yoursay@hse.ie.

Is there a legal right to home support yet?

Not yet. A statutory scheme with clear eligibility rules has been promised for years. In 2019 the Department of Health said Sláintecare committed to it for 2021.

What 2026 brought is regulation of providers. The Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025 passed the Oireachtas in June 2026, and the Autumn 2026 legislation programme lists it as enacted on 1 July 2026. It brings in registration and regulation of providers by HIQA, and makes running an unregistered service an offence.

The Department calls this "an integral first step in the design of a statutory homecare scheme". The entitlement itself is still to come, and the Autumn 2026 programme lists no separate bill for it.

What can you do while you wait?

Pay for some hours privately

Extra home support beyond the HSE's offer is paid by you. If you pay a carer or an agency, you may be able to claim tax relief at your highest rate on up to €75,000 a year where the person is totally incapacitated, but not for care the HSE paid for, or for housekeeping alone. For the longer term, see Fair Deal against home care.

Set up a family rota

Write down who covers which mornings, evenings and weekends. The gaps it shows are what to describe in Part 9 or at a review. Whoever does most of it should read our guide to carer's payments. Family Carers Ireland's free careline is 1800 24 07 24.

Bring in community supports

ALONE's befriending service matches older people with trained, Garda-vetted volunteers who visit or phone at least weekly. It is free, with no eligibility criteria: call 0818 222 024, 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, with your parent's consent. Volunteers are company, not carers. Ask the public health nurse about day centres and meals on wheels too. The HSE's 2026 plan funds over 3.3 million meals on wheels and 313 day centres.

Cover the hours nobody is there

Visits are short, and most of the day and night falls between them. If your parent is 65 or over with limited means, the Seniors Alert Scheme funds a personal alarm: equipment and installation free, monitoring free for the first year. Take it if they qualify, though it needs the button pressed. Our SmartGuardian sensor is meant for those gaps: it alerts family if it detects a fall, with nothing to wear or press. It is a safety aid, not a medical device, and nobody watches it for you.

Questions families ask

Is HSE home support means tested?

No. It is free and not means tested, so your parent's income is not checked, and they do not need a medical card.

Do we need a GP referral to apply for home support?

No. Your parent can post the form directly to the local Home Support Office. The form asks for their GP's details, and a GP or public health nurse can help fill it in.

How many hours of home support will my mum or dad get?

It depends on the needs assessment. There is no fixed amount and no 24-hour care. In May 2026 the HSE delivered about 2.25 million hours to 62,011 people, roughly eight hours a week each on average.

How long is the waiting list for HSE home support?

At the end of May 2026, 5,286 assessed people were waiting for home support to start or increase, from 361 in Dublin and Midlands to 1,146 in Dublin and North East. The HSE's target is 4,500 by the end of 2026.

Can we appeal a home support decision?

Yes. Write to the local Home Support Office within 20 days of the decision letter, saying why you are not satisfied. The HSE reviews the decision and tells you the outcome.

Is there a legal right to home support in Ireland?

Not yet. The Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Act 2026, enacted on 1 July 2026, regulates providers. The Department of Health calls it a first step towards a statutory home care scheme, which is still being designed.

Can we pay for extra home support hours ourselves?

Yes. Hours beyond the HSE's offer are paid privately. If the person cared for is totally incapacitated, you may be able to claim tax relief at your highest rate on up to €75,000 a year, but not on care the HSE paid for.

Sources

1. HSE, Home Support Service for older people.
2. HSE, How to apply for the Home Support Service.
3. HSE, After you apply for the Home Support Service.
4. HSE, Choosing an approved home support provider.
5. HSE, Contact a Home Support Office.
6. HSE, Home Support Service application form (PDF, 24 pages).
7. HSE CareerHub, HCA, Home Support: duties and responsibilities.
8. Citizens Information, Home Support Service, page edited 1 July 2026.
9. HSE, Management data report May 2026, Older Persons' Services, KPIs OP53, OP54 and OP67.
10. HSE, Older Persons performance indicator metadata 2026.
11. HSE, HSE publishes 2026 National Service Plan, 22 December 2025.
12. Department of Health, Passage of the Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025, 24 June 2026.
13. Government of Ireland, Government Legislation Programme Autumn 2026 (PDF).
14. Department of Health, Improving access to Home Support, May 2019.
15. Citizens Information, Tax relief on employing a home carer.
16. Citizens Information, Seniors Alert Scheme.
17. ALONE, Types of support and Referral information.
18. Family Carers Ireland, HSE Home Support, recruitment announcement, May 2026, and National Freephone Careline.

All sources checked on 30 September 2026. The average of roughly eight hours a week is our own arithmetic from the HSE's May 2026 figures, not an HSE statistic. Waiting lists and the statutory scheme change, so confirm current details with your local Home Support Office or HSE Live on 1800 700 700. This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Citizens Information can help on 0818 07 4000.