Dementia home care cuts: ‘My father has to be minded like a child’

Irish Examiner reporter, Claire O'Sullivan, reports today that funding for home-care packages for people with dementia fell €11m in four years up to 2015 while nursing-home care investment rose €84m. As part of her research she talked to Senator Rónán Mullen’s who has just moved back to Galway to help his mother care for his father, Tom, who is suffering from Alzheimers.

SENATOR Rónán Mullen’s dad, Tom, is one of the lucky ones. He has his wife, Maura, a nurse, to take care of him and has his three children living close by in Galway.

Some days Tom Mullen gets Rónán’s name right. Other days he thinks that he’s his brother, not his son. Rónán and his family don’t like to correct him as they try to minimise stress in their home.