Residential care - HSE cuts indifferent to patients

When “value for money” cuts are imposed arbitrarily and without any thought for the consequences they may bring, vulnerable people who turn to our health service for support very often are the victims of what can be a short-sighted policy of the Health Service Executive (HSE).

A stark reminder of this — although by no means the only one — is St Michael’s House which has more than 140 premises across the northeast and south of Dublin.

It caters for more than 1,400 people with intellectual and physical disabilities, 600 of whom are under 18 years of age.

One of the biggest problems it is faced with is providing residential care, which is used for people whose primary carer, normally a parent, dies or is no longer able to provide care.

To put the current problem into context, there are about 1,900 waiting for a residential care place nationally, of which 357 are on the waiting list for St Michael’s. Even though the HSE accepts that St Michael’s is 59 staff short, it will not give funding for them. What the HSE means by such a policy is to impose a reduction in funding and expect the same level of service of.

It would appear that such a policy is indifferent to value, and to the needs of those who need the service.