Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for sanctioning this debate and the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for attending to take it. The community action on dementia project in County Mayo has been running for three years in a pilot stage. During that time, it has assisted more than 100 families who have a loved one with dementia to receive either a dementia advisor or home support service. The home support service delivered in excess of 7,000 hours of community-based, one-to-one care in 2015 alone, keeping our loved ones in our communities with the love and care of their families and out of hospitals. The project's dementia advisor, the first ever such position in Ireland, provides an emotional signposting and listening service and the experience of the post has fed into the national dementia strategy of which the Minister of State has charge. The project has reached out to more than 2,000 people across Mayo to reduce the stigma surrounding dementia and it continues to bring education and information on dementia to national and secondary schools across the county. To date, it has reached almost 1,000 pupils. In addition, the service provides 30 telecare packages to individuals in their homes. The project database has more than 300 records of people with dementia and is currently in receipt of weekly referrals from medical and community-based professionals at a rate of between three and six a week. The HSE in Mayo is very happy with the impact of the project on the ground and supports it fully.

Why am I here? The difficulty is that the pilot has ended. On 18 December 2015, the funding will finish and the project in its current stage will finish. Despite many interventions and meetings with the HSE nationally, no indication has yet been given of the ability of the HSE to continue to fund this vital and important project. I spoke to the project manager earlier and she spoke of a conversation she had with one lady this morning who asked her what she was to do when the hospital says her mother is not suitable for long-term care but the project, which would have helped her to keep her mother at home, has no funding. She asked where she was to turn and who would care for her mother.

The Minister of State does not need to be told that this is the cruellest of diseases. However, it provokes amazing and heroic responses from family members on a daily basis across the length and breadth of the country. Dementia carers are, frankly, heroes. While they do not look for recognition, they need support. Many of them want to keep their loved ones in their communities and their homes. The project is all about that. One of the driving figures behind the project became involved with dementia through caring for her own father. Through her experience and the lack of available supports for her family, she established a day care centre herself with the support of a very good committee. She continues to raise nearly €60,000 a year for that centre through various events. That is commitment and that is love. That is what this project is about.

The €350,000 investment in the project over three years provided fantastic value for money. It kept people out of Mayo General Hospital and long-stay care and kept them in their homes where they were loved and cared for much better. That is what we want to continue. We want to continue to keep people in the community, but, more importantly, we want to continue to learn lessons from this project about families and dementia sufferers. We want to continue to provide education through the project so that the next generation of people will understand dementia and come to appreciate, in particular, that the disease is now beginning to reach a much lower age cohort than we are traditionally used to. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure the HSE has the funding to keep the project going. It is a fantastic project providing fantastic value for money. More importantly, it respects dignity and provides care in the community.

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