Home support service in crisis in Mayo - Conway-Walsh
ELDERLY people and those with additional needs are being left waiting in hospital for weeks and sometimes months on end, as the HSE struggle to put home help packages in place.
Mayo Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh says the service in the county is in crisis.
She said: “The government knows that the demand for home support services is continuing to grow, but it is not taking the necessary steps to ensure staffing levels are keeping up with demand.
“In my offices, we are supporting several families who have loved ones stuck in hospital for months on end, while the HSE fail to provide adequate resources/staff for the home support visits needed.
“These are elderly people who want to go home, and more importantly are well enough to be at home - once the right supports are in place.
“But they are trapped in a hospital or nursing home room instead.”
She continued: “My Sinn Féin colleagues and I have been raising this issue for years, and yet still we have many people entitled to home help who are not getting their hours.
“We have a postcode lottery for who can and cannot get care, and we have a government wasting huge sums of money on private home help providers instead of investing in a working public home help system.
“In 2024 nearly 64% of all home support hours are delivered by agency staff, less than 38% are directly employed by the HSE.
“The stated government policy is to have people stay in their own homes for as long as possible, preventing them from needlessly entering, or being stuck in hospitals and nursing homes. But they are failing to provide the necessary supports that will allow those people home.
“Cuts to home help, home care, housing adaptation grants, carers’ supports and other services have resulted in fewer options being available for older people who need supports. These older people are now paying the price for the catastrophic underfunding of health services.
“Sinn Féin is committed to the provision of healthcare services and social care services as a right, with equal access for all based on need.”