Donegal County Council is seeking an urgent meeting with the HSE to demand an increase in home help/care hours in Donegal communities.
The issue of elderly care was raised at this week’s county council meeting by Cllr Adrian Glackin, who said reduced home help services are putting pressure on Letterkenny University Hospital.
Cllr Glackin highlighted that home help hours in Donegal have dropped by 3,500 in 2016, there are over 340 people currently waiting for home help approval, with waiting times of over one year.
He said: “We have a case of elderly people being forced into homes due to a lack of home care. These are people who could live at home with the suitable amount of home care.
“It used to be three hours per day. This is in some places now being replaced by 15 mins, three times a day or half an hour.”
Cllr Glackin said that cases have arisen of elderly people who are unable to be discharged from hospital because they have not yet received approval for home care. This, he said, is adding to the current hospital problems.
Cllr Glackin labelled home help care provision as a ‘postcode lottery’ in Ireland and said Donegal must be on par with other regions.
“We are talking about elderly people who are not getting the dignified care they deserve at this stage in their lives. They are being put into homes and hospitals and all they want to do is be at home and it’s not possible because the service isn’t there,” he said.
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