Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has confirmed that the HSE will make 550 additional home care packages available over the winter. Obviously, this is welcome, but it is not nearly enough.

There are more than 6,200 older people waiting for home care packages nationally. The 550 additional packages would not even clear the 578 waiting in Wexford alone.

The Fine Gael-Labour Party Government - it is interesting that the Labour Party did not turn up today - destroyed home care hours. The reported additional 550 care packages need to be seen in this context. Using the original 2011 HSE service goals for home care as a baseline, Care Alliance Ireland found a deficit in provision in 2016 of 1.64 million hours. In its most recent report, published last month, Care Alliance Ireland shows that while provision has increased since, the rate of increase has simply kept pace with demand. Therefore, it estimates a deficit in provision in both 2018 and 2019 of a similar amount, in both cases well in excess of 1.5 million hours. That is a scandalous figure.

There is a considerable discrepancy between the figures on the waiting lists in various counties. The figures reported last week from a freedom of information request received by Sinn Féin show that in Wexford there are 578 people on the waiting list for home care support. In Louth, there were only two on the list. There is nobody waiting for supports in Kerry, north Cork, north Lee in Cork city, Carlow-Kilkenny and south Tipperary. I have many questions about these discrepancies between the numbers of people on the waiting lists. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, will not be surprised to hear that I find it a bit baffling. Does each community healthcare organisation, CHO, area or local health office get the same budget per head of population? If so, how do we account for the wild discrepancies between the different counties? Are we to believe that Wexford and Galway, for example, have a grossly disproportionate elderly population compared with Kerry, Carlow-Kilkenny or south Tipperary? If that is the case, which I do not believe is so, surely Wexford and Galway should be getting suitably larger budgets. Is it the case instead that the administration of home care packages in Wexford is completely inefficient and not fit for purpose? Is it the case that Kerry and Carlow-Kilkenny are faster and more efficient at assessing claims? The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, during Leaders' Questions two weeks ago, stated:

It is not simply a case of throwing money at the issue. We need to make sure that the additional resources that we provide are used appropriately.

The Government is essentially saying that this is a failure by the respective CHO areas to manage their budgets properly.

One Wexford family who are desperately in need of a home care package have been in contact with my office. Ms Finula Byrne is just 39 years old. It is important to remember that home care packages are also sometimes required for younger people. Finula normally lives at home with her mother and father. She used to have up to ten epileptic seizures per night, but a few months ago she was admitted to hospital because the number of seizures has increased so much. Finula's parents have been her main carers for their whole lives. They are elderly pensioners and they cannot cope any more without help. Finula's father has recently had a hip replacement. The Byrne family has always maintained responsibility for Finula's care with minimal support from the HSE or any other organisation. They have not requested help from the HSE for 25 years. They have sacrificed so much, and when they are, for once, desperate for help, they are told there is no support available. In early November this year, the office of the general manager for disability services in the south east told the Byrne family that there are no funds available for 2018 as they have been exhausted. This is not just a postcode lottery, as it was called last week. Access to a home care package is also determined by the time of year. We need to find a solution for the Byrne family and many like them.

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