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County Donegal

HSE Home Support in Donegal

HSE Home Support is applied for and allocated locally. This page holds the official steps, the local office details, the approved-provider lists for the county, and an honest account of what waiting data exists.

Apply

  1. A person can apply while at home, while in hospital, or while in a nursing home and wanting to return home.

  2. The application form can be obtained online or from the local Home Support Office, and the completed form is posted to that office. The form can be completed by the person themselves, or by someone else on their behalf, including a family member, GP, nurse or another registered healthcare professional.

    There is a direct application route through the local Home Support Office — a referral from a particular professional is not described as the only way in.

  3. For someone in hospital, current HSE guidance is to ask the person managing the discharge plan for a home support application form, and to ask as early as possible during the stay to help avoid delays going home.

    Asking early is sensible, but it is not a guarantee of a faster decision or a faster start.

  4. Consumer Directed Home Support can be requested when applying. If it is approved, the HSE confirms a weekly amount of funding in writing and the person arranges their support with one or more HSE-approved providers of their choice.

    Whether it is approved, and what is available locally, is decided through the HSE process.

Official HSE guidance on how to apply, including the application form

Source: HSELast reviewed: 11 September 2026Verified

Source detail

After you apply

  • A completed application leads to a needs assessment, usually carried out by a healthcare professional such as a public health nurse, physiotherapist or occupational therapist. The HSE then writes to the person with the outcome of the application.

  • Current HSE guidance says that if an application is not approved, the person can write to their local Home Support Office within 20 days of getting the decision letter, explaining why they are not satisfied, and the decision will be reviewed.

    This is the guidance published on the date shown, not a permanent rule. Check the official page before relying on the timeframe.

  • If circumstances change — health improves, or the person is admitted to hospital, goes into respite, or stays with family — the person or someone acting for them should contact the local Home Support Office, and the support they receive will be reviewed.

Official HSE guidance on what happens after you apply

Source: HSELast reviewed: 11 September 2026Verified

Source detail

Local Home Support Office

The HSE lists the following office for Donegal. Completed application forms go to the office covering the person's address, and it is also the contact for questions about an application already made.

Donegal

HSE Home SupportServices for Older People1st FloorSt Conal's HospitalLetterkennyCounty DonegalF92 FW6Y

Transcribed from the official HSE directory on 11 September 2026. Check the current details

Source: HSELast reviewed: 11 September 2026Verified

Source detail

Latest verified waiting-list data

CareMap does not yet hold a verified waiting-list figure for Donegal. We do not show a zero, an estimate or a national figure in its place.

The HSE has published figures for the HSE health region covering a much wider area than Donegal, and CareMap does not treat those as a Donegal figure. You can see them on the Home Support Tracker.

Verified local waiting-list data is being added

We hold no verified waiting-list figures for Donegal yet. The HSE publishes this information in replies to parliamentary questions, mostly as tables inside documents. Below are only the documents that relate to Donegal or to the country as a whole. A figure appears here once an editor has read the document and recorded the values with their date, geography and definition. Until then we would rather show you the source than a number we cannot stand behind.

What each figure will carry when it appears

  • • The date the figure refers to, and the date the source was published
  • • The geography it covers — national, HSE health region, county or local area — named as the source names it
  • • What the figure counts, so a figure is never compared with one measuring something else
  • • People waiting for a first service, kept separate from existing recipients waiting for additional hours
  • • Hours approved against hours delivered, where the source gives both
  • • Average wait, and longest wait, only where the source publishes one
  • • The publishing organisation, document title and a link to it
  • • Verification status, the date it was checked, and any note that changes what the number means

HSE Integrated Healthcare Area figures

The HSE also publishes waiting figures by Integrated Healthcare Area. An area is not the same thing as a county: some are named for one county, some combine counties, and some cover only part of a city and county. These are shown as the HSE published them and are never divided up to produce a county figure.

Integrated Healthcare Area home support waiting figures relevant to Donegal
Integrated Healthcare AreaWaiting on a carerFigure refers to
Donegal32930 September 2025

Source: HSELast reviewed: 17 November 2025Verified

Source detail
  • Health Service Executive (HSE) — PQ 60555-25 — Deputy Pádraig Rice: people waiting for a carer by Health Region and Integrated Healthcare Area
    Open the official source

What the numbers mean

Two different things are often reported as one number: people who have been assessed and approved but have never received a service, and people already receiving home support who are approved for more hours than they get. Adding them together produces a bigger headline and a less useful fact.

Figures are also published at different dates, on different definitions, for areas that do not match county boundaries. HSE regions and older CHO areas cover several counties, so a regional figure is not a county figure.

It cannot predict your start date

Waiting figures describe a system at a point in time. Two people in the same county with the same assessed need can wait very different lengths of time, because what happens next depends on the assessment, the local office and the staff available in that area. Ask the office handling the application about that application.

Approved providers

  • The service may be provided directly by HSE staff or by an HSE-approved provider.
  • HSE-approved providers must meet national standards based on HIQA standards, can only charge the rates agreed with the HSE, and cannot add extra fees.

The HSE publishes its approved-provider lists by area as documents on its own website. We link them rather than copying them, because a list we copied could be out of date the day after we did. We do not rank providers and we cannot tell you which of them currently has capacity — the local office and the providers themselves can.

Source: HSELast reviewed: 11 September 2026Verified

Source detail

What to do while waiting in Donegal

  • Ask which office the application sits with, and ask what would need to change for the recorded level of need to be reviewed.
  • Keep a short dated record of what is difficult day to day. Specific examples carry more weight at review than general worry.
  • If circumstances change — a hospital admission, a fall, a carer becoming unavailable — contact the local Home Support Office, because the HSE reviews support when things change.
  • Look at what is available locally in the meantime: community and voluntary services, Meals on Wheels where it operates, and day services.
  • If safety at home is the pressing issue, ask about an occupational therapy or home safety assessment, and about housing adaptation options.
If approved hours aren't enoughHow HSE Home Support works

Related

Sources