Ms Barbara O'Connell:

The Senator asked if there is a European model. I would like to say that we have good models in Ireland that work but they are just not resourced and are underfunded. For example, going back to the nursing home issue, we have case managers in place. We have done a study in which we have saved €3.5 million for the HSE by keeping people out of nursing homes simply because a specialist case manager has met people coming from acute hospitals and has managed them all the way to the community. The case managers have realised that some of the reasons people are going into a nursing home could be accommodated in the community and have gone about resourcing those supports to help those people. Going back to the case management model where there is a resource specialist, not just for brain injury but for any disability, there would be just one point of contact with that level of expertise. I believe we have the models. They are just not resourced and they are not everywhere. We talked about John, who could get a full service wherever he lived. John is a real person. Other people just cannot get any service depending on where they live.