Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would be grateful if the Minister of State would confirm that he will investigate this issue or have the Department ask the HSE to conduct a review of the case. With regard to liberty and freedom in terms of bringing an elderly patient home, it is worrying for me to hear the HSE refer to putting the patient first when it said in correspondence to me that it was only clarified in early 2016, during pressures arising from winter pressures, that patients under the wardship process were allowed to go home. That is not really putting the patients first in an application process. Before that, debts were being run up and were being discharged against the patient, as in the case I outlined, and the family was fully capable and had the capacity to look after the individual in question. In addition, during the period in question, the HSE was not liaising with the family or giving them the key answers. It was appointing estate agents and auctioneers from the court to sell property to discharge debts when the family felt it could have this person at home. A number of files were opened up at that time. I am aware that one report was initiated through the elder abuse officer. It was fully found to be incorrect in favour of the family. Again, the family has no redress for that. It was being stonewalled by the HSE.

The article I mentioned points out that there is a fundamental issue here. We like to keep individuals in their homes but when a family has the capacity, setting and qualifications to care for an individual they should be facilitated to do that, rather than the individual being made to stay in a nursing home when a wardship process is under way.

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