Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is an important question. I will not comment on the individual case, but it is important to state that nursing home residents, whether younger people or older adults with disabilities, should enjoy the same level of support and access to services for which they are eligible as when they lived in their own homes. It is acknowledged that the reason they require 24-hour support is their level of dependency, which, in turn, may cause them to require access to clinical services, including hospital and other healthcare appointments in the community.

I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about this question last night because there is a crossover of responsibility. She said that, generally, people who live in nursing homes because of a disability and because they are not able to look after themselves would normally have had access to supports in a day centre run by the Brothers of Charity, St. John of God or whoever is delivering that support. Transport would always have been provided in such cases and those pathways should be utilised. That is what she tells people. He or she would be known to services and that is where her or she should go.

In my constituency, Waterford, we have also used LocalLink, which is all over the country. Once LocalLink services are given appropriate notice, they have a small discretionary budget that can be used to support people who have no other means of transport to attend appointments. I have used the service, but notice must be given. It is not possible to ring them up and ask for something the next day, so an emergency appointment would be different. The HSE provides a number of intermediate care vehicles, which are used predominantly for non-emergency transport, but they are not everywhere. They are reserved for those who need specific support in transport.

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