Carers report - Carers need professional back-up

SOCIAL Affairs Minister Seamus Brennan will today launch a report under the aegis of the Equality Authority which spells out the issues affecting carers and which highlights the urgency to get this vital sector of community care regularised.

His colleague in Finance, Brian Cowen, may have increased a carer’s allowance by €26 and €30 respectively a week, bringing the top allowance for the over-66s to €200, but it is still hardly a fortune.

Given that, and the fact that the Budget itself merely warranted a “cautious” welcome by care organisations, it is a recognition of sorts of the invaluable role which carers play.

Today’s report illustrates, however, that there are aspects other than financial ones that need to be addressed, particularly that the entire area demands the intervention of legislative provision and protection.

Without the vast majority of people who devote so much time and effort to looking after a person in need of care, usually a relative, the State would be faced with a very difficult dilemma.

It has been estimated that throughout the country, there are 150,000 carers but the Care Alliance Ireland (CAI) is concerned that many of them do not get the allowance because it is means-tested.

This is patently unfair, with only about 25,500 of them actually getting the allowance, and the most effective way of ensuring equity is to eliminate the system of means-testing, which is not, in any case, acceptable in other areas where benefits are paid.

The Equality Authority has previously called for steps to be taken to ensure the rights of those looking after sick and ill relatives to be protected.

The challenge, obviously, is to streamline the conditions of those engaged in the area who too often are combining paid employment with caring roles.

One of the difficulties is that there is a diversity of caring situations, with about 58% of them providing care for 14 hours or less per week, and 27% providing care for 43 hours or more a week.

Carers, although they fulfil an invaluable role in society, are largely a considerable body of people without statutory rights which demands to be balanced, beginning with the removal of means-testing.

Apart from financial implications, the back-up and support package which Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney has promised must be delivered. That amounts to a healthcare package valued at €150 million dedicated to caring for people at home.

By her own estimates, almost three out of 10 existing nursing home residents could be treated at home because they do not require full-time care.

This would represent a considerable saving by the State through savings on nursing home subventions. And because that care will be provided, more than likely by relatives, it is essential that the nurses, home care attendants and therapists, will materialise as she promised they would.

Home carers are entitled to be provided with such professional back-up.