Michael Collins criticises elder care failures and budget omissions
Michael Collins spoke to a Sinn Féin motion on elder care and the budget, arguing that carers were overlooked and that elder care services are in crisis. He said carers save the state tens of millions yet were not recognised in the budget and that access to home help, community hospital beds and urgent operations is failing.
The speaker thanked Sinn Féin for the motion and described the treatment of carers as an "absolutely outrageous scandal." He insisted carers save the state tens of millions of euros and that the budget failed to recognise their contribution.
He outlined failures across elder care - people cannot get Cares loans, home help, community hospital beds, nursing home beds or urgent medical ward admission, and face long waits for operations such as cataracts, hips or knees. He also said that at the end of their care people are being fleeced in the Fair Deal scheme.
Using West Cork as an example, he said some patients are only offered beds in another county and described patients stuck in medical wards because there is no bed available in a community hospital or nursing home. He warned community hospitals still have the same bed numbers as decades ago despite an ageing population.
He criticised home health delivery, saying callers are told no home health is available, that new home health workers face eight to twelve months of training delays, and that practical on-the-job shadowing with experienced carers would provide the common-sense training needed.
He blamed the legacy of previous governments for the breakdown in elder care and warned ministers that the public will remind them of these failures on November 29th.
Main complaint
The speaker thanked Sinn Féin for the motion and described the treatment of carers as an "absolutely outrageous scandal." He insisted carers save the state tens of millions of euros and that the budget failed to recognise their contribution.
Access to services and treatment delays
He outlined failures across elder care - people cannot get Cares loans, home help, community hospital beds, nursing home beds or urgent medical ward admission, and face long waits for operations such as cataracts, hips or knees. He also said that at the end of their care people are being fleeced in the Fair Deal scheme.
Local impact and capacity pressures
Using West Cork as an example, he said some patients are only offered beds in another county and described patients stuck in medical wards because there is no bed available in a community hospital or nursing home. He warned community hospitals still have the same bed numbers as decades ago despite an ageing population.
Home health staffing and training
He criticised home health delivery, saying callers are told no home health is available, that new home health workers face eight to twelve months of training delays, and that practical on-the-job shadowing with experienced carers would provide the common-sense training needed.
Political consequence and warning
He blamed the legacy of previous governments for the breakdown in elder care and warned ministers that the public will remind them of these failures on November 29th.
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Transcript
First of all, I would like to thank Sinn Féin for putting forward this motion, a very worthy motion, it sure is. The Cares alone, Minister, is an absolutely outrageous scandal that when there is money in the state, as he continuously tells us that there is, that these people were not looked after in this budget, because they do put in the time, they do care for the people in their homes, and they are proud to do so, but they are saving the state tens of millions of euros, and he did not seem to recognise that and the efforts that they made. I think, to be quite honest with you, if there is any breakdown by this Government in a huge way, you have to look at the legacy of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens. In relation to elder care, people cannot get Cares loans, they cannot get home help, they cannot get a bed in a community hospital, they cannot get a bed in a nursing home, they cannot get a medical ward if they are an urgent injury, they cannot have urgent operations like cataracts, hips or knees, and then at the very end they are fleeced in the fair deal scheme. So you have literally left people, only at a very vulnerable time in their life, and that is because they cannot shout, they cannot shout the loudest, they cannot stand outside hearing the door and cry that they have not got a bed. Imagine people in West Cork being, the only beds being offered is in another county. It is an outrageous situation that people find themselves in a medical ward and they cannot go home, they find themselves that there is no bed in a community hospital, or there is no nursing home beds, they are absolutely a breaking point. Community hospitals should be extending, because we have a larger ageing population, but instead of extending beds they have stayed the same, the same community hospital is quite brilliant in their delivery, but if you still have the same 20 or 25 or 30 beds than you had 20, 30 years ago and the ageing population wasn't there, in the state it is now, there is something wrong. Minister, home health, let me tell you about home health, you can get home health at West Cork, no I cannot understand that, because I meet home health saying home health is telling me they are willing to do extra hours, but they are not given the time, we are told when we ring there is no home health available, no training apparently for a new home health goes on for some eight, nine, ten, twelve months, surely be to God if a new home health is coming on that they can go around with a home health that is already doing home health from door to door, and that should be their training, the common sense training, the real training that is on the ground. I mean you have to look at these areas, because you are letting the other people down in this country, and they feel it, and they know it, and they will remind you on November 29th. Thank you Deputy.