Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am here representing Senator John Dolan and I will be asking a question he particularly wanted me to ask. I also have a couple of questions of my own. One concerns the area of social care in general. I have worked for Cork Simon Community, Cope Foundation and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and I am a social worker by trade.

As far as I can see, social care is the Cinderella of the health system in Ireland. This is the case in any part of the system, whether one has a neurological disease or dementia or is a parent of a child with severe disabilities. There are problems in every part of the system. Social care, as part of the health system, is not functioning. I hope the Committee on the Future of Healthcare makes recommendations on building a successful system.

Home care is a major part of the health system. The 950 additional home care packages are welcome, but they do not meet the demand. There are not enough and they are not getting through to those who need them. The national dementia strategy earmarked 500 intensive home care packages, which is a very modest number considering that 55,000 people have dementia. To date, only 85 people with dementia are benefitting from that.

Social care is the Cinderella, home care is growing but is still not anywhere near meeting the demand and services are not getting through to people or are always appropriate. Some forms of home care involve personal care. A person with dementia may not necessarily need to be dressed, but may need to be reminded to eat. It is important that the form of care we are offering to people is correct.

Deputies doing constituency work will be more aware of that than anybody else because people are coming to their offices with concerns. We need to know what will happen in 2017 in regard to that. Will there be significant additional investment in home care? Will it be able to cater for people who have, for example, dementia specific needs? This issue is not going away and has a major impact on the mainstream system. Even if one is not bothered by home care, as someone coming from my perspective might be, the number of beds and delayed discharges are having a major impact. I would like the Minister to comment on that.

I am also concerned about waiting lists. I received some information from my neighbour, who is a gynaecologist in Cork, about gynaecology waiting lists and I was shocked. I understand the highest number of women in the country, 4,090, are waiting for outpatient appointments and 662 women are waiting for gynaecological surgery. This is a critical issue for those women, especially those who have been waiting for a long time because their condition may be worsening.

Senator Dolan referred to the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Has that been provided for in the Estimates for 2017? What is the status of the statement of the departmental strategy in terms of implementing that convention?

My major concern is social care and, within that, home care. I am anxious to hear from the Minister on that, in particular with regard to the budget for next year.