Ms Clare Duffy:

We do not have a winter crisis. The crisis is all year round. It is not as visible as the trolley crisis the hospitals have. Ours is invisible because these people are at home, denied a service. It is convenient for the Government that they are so invisible but not so convenient for us. Visualising that, one of the lows of this year for me was when I had to help a family to complete an application for the fair deal scheme for their daughter who has schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis, who is the same age as me. It was seen as a significant success for her to get a nursing home place within 20 miles of home. One can walk into a nursing home and see people who are my age there because there is no other option.