HSE under fire as woman, 95, without home help

HEALTH chiefs were criticised last night after it emerged a 95-year-old woman living on her own cannot get home help care because of delays on a waiting list.

The elderly woman is essentially house-bound and needs assistance in her home in east Finglas, Dublin, to cook meals, clean and look after herself. She recently had two bad falls in her residence, but despite family concerns, health services are unable to provide the frail lady with a home help service.

According to Sinn Féin councillor Dessie Ellis, who is lobbying local services on behalf of the elderly woman’s family, cutbacks in health funds are to blame. He said it was unbelievable the lady was being forced to wait for help.

“This is crazy. She is being refused at the moment because there are just not sufficient funds for the service.

“She has no home help whatsoever. It seems really mad she can’t get help for someone her age,” he said.

The family of the Dublin woman have applied to get home help services for an hour a day through the HSE. It is also understood the woman is in a queue to get an emergency alert pendent, a panic button linked directly to health services.

“It is outrageous,” added Mr Ellis. The Finglas representative said he was aware of a number of other local cases where elderly people were being denied home help services. One included a 77-year-old man who had recently had triple heart bypass surgery in hospital and needed assistance in his house while recovering from the serious operation. The man, who left the Mater Hospital two weeks ago, cannot get help for the one hour a day he needs it, said Mr Ellis.

“There are other cases of people in their 70s and 80s who are being denied home help,” he said.

He claimed home help services in Finglas were being run with the same amount of funds in 2007 and with a cap on hiring more helpers.

A HSE source last night confirmed the case of the 95-year-old woman.

Local HSE officials said they were trying to meet demands with funds available. “To work within the budget provided, Finglas Home Help Service carried out a review on their active caseload and cases involving personal care and assistance with the activities of daily living have been prioritised over other interventions,” said the HSE Dublin North East office.

The HSE provides 1,226 hours of home help each week to Finglas clients aged 65 and over, and also has a budget of about €1 million, it added.

“No applications for home help provision have been refused, however, a waiting list for the service exists,” added a spokeswoman. The HSE refused to comment specifically on the 95-year-old woman, but said cases were prioritised according to a person’s medical history, age profile, mental health status, dependency level and level of access to other support.