Older People Services in Crisis as Fair Deal and Home Help Waiting Lists rocket – Butler

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Older People, Mary Butler says that she is very alarmed at the surge in numbers of older people waiting for both home care and residential support.

“A 16% increase in the Fair Deal waiting list over three weeks in June is extraordinary to say the least”, said Deputy Butler.

“The last thing we need is a repeat of what happened in 2014 when the numbers waiting for a nursing home placement went from 654 in February of that year to 2,114 by the following October. If the rate of increase we have seen over three June weeks continues, well over 1,000 people will be waiting by September.

“On top of this, the waiting list for home help has gone from 6,310 in April to 6,819 at the end of May.

“All of this points to a real crisis in health service provision for older people as new applications for home support are put on hold.

“I am also concerned that the number of home help hours is way behind schedule. 7,157,942 home support hours were provided to the end of May, a monthly average of 1,431,588 hours. On a 12-month basis this would mean 17,179,060 hours should be provided this year – over 700,000 short of what Fine Gael promised this year.

“Minister Daly needs to get on top of this. The crisis in older people’s service whether in the home or in residential care needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.”