Carers’ aid cut despite doctor advice
The Carers Association made the claim last night, warning that it is aware of dozens of cases of long- standing financial help being axed in a move that mirrors the discretionary medical cards scandal.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner before a major midweek meeting on the issue, the advocacy group’s spokeswoman Catherine Cox said the Department of Social Protection has recently begun “desktop” reviews of allowances to families.
While the department said the policy ensures that funds go where they are needed, Ms Cox said the process is “fundamentally flawed” and is seeing people stripped of help, often against the advice of doctors working with those involved.
Calling for an “urgent overhaul of the application and review process”, she said the group is aware of a growing number of cases where people who had supports for up to a decade are being told they do not need help, despite there being no financial or medical change in their relatives’ conditions.
Warning that the cuts mirror the discretionary medical card scandal, where thousands of families lost State aid, she said Government must act now to prevent another crisis.
“There are major problems with reviews, including the fact they very often ignore the expert opinions of the medical professionals who are working closest to the care for person,” said Ms Cox. “With the stroke of a pen, a family carer’s income is stopped and they are being told their loved one no longer requires full-time care and attention, despite the fact they most certainly do.
“We are asking that the current reviews are stopped with immediate effect and that carers who have had payments cut be re-instated until such time as a fairer system of application and review is in place.”
Among those affected is Anthony Doolan, who quit his job 10 years ago to care for his son Paul, now 16, who has severe autism.
Last week, his €204 full carer’s allowance was cancelled, against his doctor’s advice, after the Department of Social Protection said the teen was “not so invalided or disabled as to require full- time care and attention”.
Mr Doolan was aghast, as there has been no change in his son’s condition or their financial situation since the allowance started in 2004.
