HSE cuts attack the old, young and disabled people in their own homes

The cuts to Home Care services announced by the HSE today are truly shocking and tantamount to turning off the life support machine on services which were already thinly spread.

Patricia Conboy, Director of Older & Bolder said “We are already failing people who need home and community care services.   18 % of these additional cuts are targeted at home care services and represent a direct attack on old, young and disabled people in their own homes.  The cuts fly in the face of long-standing policy and clear commitments in the Programme for Government to develop and invest in home and community care services.”

Ms. Conboy continued: “Unfortunately it is only when we come to need home or community care that individuals and families realise the extent of the holes in our care system.  Most people are surprised and dismayed to learn that they have no right to home or community care and that access is discretionary, unequal and problematic.  Cutting home care services does not make human sense or economic sense.  These cuts will inflict intolerable pain on distressed individuals and families and cost the State more in the long run.”

She added   “The consequences will be earlier admissions to nursing homes, longer stays in acute hospitals and anguish for families who need support to care at home for relatives suffering illness, frailty or disability.”