Barnardos angry as HSE shelves after-hours care service

BARNARDOS has hit out at plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to shelve proposals for an extended out-of-hours social care service because of government funding cuts.

As first revealed in the Irish Examiner last month, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) had raised serious concerns over the existing service after a 15-year-old boy had to spend a night in a Cork Garda station because social workers could not be contacted.

HSE plans would have seen expanded social care teams and a 24-hour on-call service marshalled by a national call centre, but those proposals have now been pulled because of the HSE’s reduced budget.