Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Apart from people on waiting lists for home help I want to raise an issue relating to HSE community healthcare organisation area 8. When a home help person rings in sick, no one is discharged to the houses that he or she was due to call to. One day, an elderly lady in my constituency was left cold until after lunch in a soiled bed because no home help called out. People in my constituency last week were written to and advised that if their home help person was taking annual leave there would be no replacement. A man who has dementia will be left for three days over Christmas without any home help. Frankly, this is not acceptable. I want the Taoiseach to talk to the Minister for Health to intervene to ensure that people who rely on home help on a regular or daily basis can be assured that if the home help person is sick or takes the entitlement of annual leave, the patient will not be affected.

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