Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People are living longer and their care needs are going to increase, and we will have more people with neurological conditions. Rather than having them go into homes, we prefer to see people make the choice to stay in their own homes and receive the care they need. It is recognised that they need the care, and they have been assessed and approved for the hours, but those hours are just not being filled. There is a crisis in the home care sector. A further recruitment campaign is needed, as well as proper training for individuals who are going to take up that work. I believe there are people in the community willing to do that work but pay and conditions are an issue. There is a difference between the pay and conditions of someone who is directly employed by the HSE and someone employed by an agency, and we need to fill that gap. Home care providers are often driving around rural areas, such as Cavan, where some of the roads and lanes they have to travel are very poor, but they get nothing towards travel, which is another issue.

It was also brought to my attention in September that homecare providers in CHO 1, of which Cavan is a part, were told that a recent pay and numbers letter had been issued, based on directives from the CEO and CFO, and with immediate effect, there would be no increase in hours implemented unless they are reallocated from previously ceased hours.

They are saying that new home care packages can still be approved but those awaiting additional hours will not be funded for those hours that they have been clinically assessed as needing. There seems to be a pull-back here because of money in not providing this essential care that people need in the community. That is very serious. We cannot have a blunt instrument where we cut people off and tell them we are not giving any more money, whether people need it or not. People have to be assessed to ensure they are given the hours they require to live comfortably and safely in their own homes.

The young man, Finn, I spoke about earlier, has now got to the stage where he is nearly afraid to let others help him get out of bed because they are not trained and he is afraid of falling. He is almost confined to bed because of the lack of trained carers who are coming in to him.

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