‘Home help waiting lists are serious indictment of government’ – Carthy

The fact that 303 people were waiting on home help in the Cavan/Monaghan area, according to the latest HSE figures, ‘is a serious indictment of the government’, according to Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy.

The Midlands Northwest MEP made the comment after Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson, Louise O’Reilly revealed figures she had obtained from a parliamentary question to the HSE earlier this month.

The latest statistics showed there were 303 people waiting on home help hours in the Cavan/Monaghan area, the highest number in the HSE’s CHO1 area, which includes Donegal and Sligo/Leitrim.

Carthy said the numbers represented 303 families who were ‘desperately waiting for help for their loved ones so they can be cared for in their own homes’ and were a result of a government freeze on home help hours since last year.

He said:

“The government policy of freezing the allocation of home help hours in the third quarter of 2019 means that the numbers of local people waiting has exploded.

“On one hand, the stated government policy is to have people stay in their own homes for as long as possible, preventing them from needlessly entering hospitals and nursing homes, but on the other, the policy is to stop allocating home help hours.

“It is a ridiculous situation and a tragic one for the older people who are waiting.  These people are assessed as needing and being entitled to the care, but they are subject to a postcode lottery for who gets these vital services and who doesn’t.

“These figures show how Fine Gael and their government partners, Fianna Fail, are utterly failing older people in Monaghan and Cavan, and around the State”.

ENDS