Ms Adrienne McAvinue:

We do not deliver home care packages. We receive core funding. I manage home care for south Dublin and we receive core funding. I am inundated with phone calls from families about the tool that is used to determine whether someone with dementia and living at home can have a home care package. The tool is used to determine people's ability to shower themselves or go to the bathroom themselves. One could visit somebody in the morning who has dementia and that person could really need somebody in to help with all of those things, but by the afternoon, he or she is really looking for company. It is determined based on whether people can go to the bathroom themselves or need assistance. There is no room for allowing the primary carer time and much-needed respite. I hear that home care packages of a maximum of 21 hours will be delivered, with an hour in the morning, an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening.

Much of the time, people would benefit much more from somebody coming in for a block of three hours to give primary carers respite. For example, a couple of years ago, I went to visit the home of a 92-year-old man who was looking after his 86-year-old wife. They had a home care package of 21 hours. That man cried and said he had a home care package of 21 hours. He asked for more to allow him time to go to do shopping on a Friday, collect their pensions and so on. Those 21 hours did not allow that man to leave his home. We need to look at how we deliver and how we assess people for hours of care.