Cut in homecare services should be reversed immediately

The recent cut of €12.5m to the HSE budget for homecare services has not been reversed.

Nonetheless, the Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has re-assured existing recipients of homecare services that they will not lose service.

Politicians are also re-assuring constituents that implementation of the cut (now called “a measure”) will be fair and sympathetic and that each case will be assessed by the HSE, according to their individual needs.

The reality is that the HSE does not have a nationally consistent method for the assessment of health and homecare needs; that access to homecare services is discretionary; and that systematic information about the allocation and withdrawal of these services is not in the public domain.

We may hear individual stories from people affected, but we cannot generate a national picture of the true state of affairs, as the cut to services is implemented across the country.

It is little wonder, then, that uncertainty and lack of clarity continue to be the order of the day for recipients of these packages and home help services.

When is a cut not a cut? A cut is not a cut when it is reversed. A cut remains a cut when €12.5m has been withdrawn from the HSE budget for homecare services.

The political re-assurances are simply causing confusion, and they do not alter the reality that a cut has been applied to services for the frail, old people with disabilities and children with life-limiting illnesses.

This cut is illogical and will result in earlier admission to nursing homes, longer stays in acute hospitals and anguish for families who wish to care at home for relatives suffering from illness, disability and frailty.

The cut to homecare services does not make sense on an economic level or a human level.

It should be reversed immediately.

Patricia Conboy

Director Older & Bolder

Jervis Street

Dublin 1