Cut to services is an assault on dignity

Ultimately, the most vulnerable of elderly people will have to bear the brunt of planned HSE cutbacks, writes Eamon Timmins

IF there is one thing worse in the current economic climate than fear, it is uncertainty. Ask any older person, especially someone who is dependent on the state for their pension and their health needs.

It is one thing to fear that your services or funds may be cut. However, uncertainty add s to that fear: Uncertainty that the little you have may be pared back or taken away; uncertainty that essential services, which you realise you may need in the very near future to live with dignity, may be gone before you apply for them.