Local TD Denis Naughten has told the Dáil that the reason nearly 6,500 people are waiting for home help hours is because just an additional 37 minutes have been allocated to each primary care network.
He said that this means that in reality there is about 90 seconds of additional home help per day available to meet the needs of older people and people with a disability in each parish across East Galway and Roscommon.
Deputy Naughten said that while there is no shortage of funding with up to €700 million available this year for home help services, staff are not available to deliver the hours promised to older people and people with a disability.
He called for an interim measure to be introduced where families would be provided directly with the funds to buy in their own services where the HSE could not provide home help support.
“I outlined two specific local cases,” said the Independent TD. “Firstly, the situation of John and Mary. They are a vulnerable older couple living on their own.
“John’s wife requires full-time care and while they have been allocated hours in the evenings and on weekends, they cannot get access to it whatsoever, and they are being denied those supports even though the money is there.”
He also spoke about Brigid, a middle-aged woman confined to a wheelchair after spinal trauma.
“She has been told that she has to go into a public nursing home during the day, seven days a week, because home help is not available,” said Deputy Naughten.
“Her husband will have to take her in the morning and collect her again in the evening, which is going against stated Government policy.
“It is also going against the Ombudsman’s report and the commitments that have been given by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, not to put people with a disability into nursing homes, yet that is the solution that has been proposed to that family this week.
“In both instances these families could source private support that the HSE cannot provide, yet it is unwilling to provide those funds directly to the family to meet the urgent needs identified by the HSE itself.”
