A Clare-based Care Support Manager claims the State is engaged in a ‘game of brinkmanship’ over home help hours.
Staff shortages have left the HSE with considerably fewer hours to give out to those in need.
The HSE budgeted to deliver over 24 million hours of home help to elderly and vulnerable people this year, but it will fall short of that target.
New figures show around 1.8 million hours of home help will be lost out on in 2022, due to insufficient numbers of staff being available to carry out the work.
55,000 people around the country receive home help, though more than 5,000 people are now on waiting lists for similar supports.
Shannon woman Marion Costello is a carer for her parents, who both have dementia – she says the service is vital for her and her parents’ mental and physical wellbeing.
The lost home help hours have led to renewed calls for increased Government intervention on the matter, and for more resources to be allocated to the health service to address the issue.
Opposition parties have claimed the problem is exacerbating hospital overcrowding across the country, including at University Hospital Limerick and throughout the Midwest.
David O’Connor, who’s Care Support Manager for Clare and North Tipperary with Family Carers Ireland, believes a lack of State intervention is leading many family carers to the brink of what they can provide for their loved ones.
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