Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise serious concerns over the waiting lists for homecare packages in Mayo. The problem has escalated in recent weeks and a large number of people have contacted me to tell me an elderly relative has had a homecare package approved but is currently in a hospital bed and cannot get access to the package. There are a number of such cases in Ballina District Hospital and there are others around the county in step-down and respite facilities. We all know that the cost of keeping somebody in a hospital bed, or in an acute bed or step-down facility, is considerably more than the cost of caring for somebody in their own home.

What is the HSE doing about it? The HSE, which is responsible for Mayo, Galway and Roscommon as one unit of operation, has previous form in this, as I believe homecare packages are being given in Galway but not in Mayo and Roscommon. I understand that this is to alleviate the severe pressure on Galway University Hospital and the numbers on trolleys but that is not acceptable. Mayo has one of the most elderly populations in the whole country and it is very poor form that we cannot get homecare packages. We are only in May - surely they cannot be telling us the budget for the year has been spent already.

Questions need to be answered about how many are waiting, how the budget for Mayo, Roscommon and Galway is being spent and why people are waiting this length of time, blocking much-needed beds in acute hospitals and step-down facilities. I ask that the Minister of State with responsibility for this area, Deputy Jim Daly, be invited to the House for a debate on the issue, to set the record straight and to bring about progress.