Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this Topical Issue matter. The Seaview respite care home outside Donegal town is owned and operated by the Health Service Executive, HSE, to provide residential respite care for physically and intellectually disabled people across south-west Donegal. Currently, there are over 100 families who use and access this service for much needed respite for them and the person for whom they are caring.

It is important to stress the families are happy with the services they and their loved ones get from the respite home. The issue today is about staffing. Previously, families used to receive respite care every six weeks where the child or person they were looking after could stay overnight in the home while the family or carer got a break. The facility was also able to accommodate them if the family had to go away for a short period at short notice or intended to go on holidays. Obviously, with limited facilities across the country, it is not always possible to take a disabled person on holidays. One of the families who uses the service told me the holiday for a disabled person was actually going to the respite home.

Unfortunately, now the home closes at 7 o'clock on a Sunday evening and does not open on Monday and Tuesday. This means the families are lucky if they get respite care twice a year rather than every six weeks as they had before. The home requires four nurses plus care staff to maintain the level of respite which had been available previously. I understand a nurse in the home is due to retire in the next several weeks, resulting in the staffing complement going down to two nurses. This means the availability of respite for the 100 families in question who desperately need it - it is the only break some of these families actually get - will be restricted even more if the situation is allowed to continue. It is vitally important the HSE in Donegal recruits the nursing staff required to allow the home to operate to full capacity and to the benefit of those families who depend on this vital service.

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