This article is from page 6 of the 2013-04-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THERE were 236 Clare people on a waiting list for home help hours at the end of last year as the county receives the lowest access to hours in the HSE West region.
Figures released by the HSE show that Clare receives just 1.46 hours of home help per head of capita compared to Roscommon who receive 4.67 hours per citizen.
“This is a huge discrepancy in the same are under the same management structure,” said HSE West Forum member Cllr Tom McNamara (FF).
“There is no equality of delivery of service here,” he said.
Bernard Gloster, Area Manager, HSE Mid West PCCC, admitted that a reduction of home help hours during the last three months of 2012 resulted in Clare being under its targeted hours by 750. This has been restored in 2013.
However 87 Clare people were still remaining to be assessed for home help hours at the end of 2010, while a further 149 were waiting to be allocated hours following assessment.
Cllr McNamara said the inequality in providing hours was of great concern.
He said disparity in the allocation of the number of home help hours in Clare and Limerick-North Tipperary was extreme.
Limerick-North Tipperary received 2.71 hours compared to Clare’s 1.46 he argued.
“Regarding the differences quoted by the councillor for Clare and North Tipperary and East Limerick, it should be noted that between one quarter and one third of this target is for the Limerick area. While this leaves some difference still between Clare and North Tipperary, that is historical and had many reasons. Home help hours are not equally divided on the over 65 population across the country,” said Mr Gloster.
“County Clare has more access to older people’s beds than North Tip- perary and this is a factor when considering the overall resource provision to older people,” he added.
“County Clare has more investment in day services expansion than North Tipperary. In 2013 a new day centre funded by the HSE has opened at Carrigoran, Newmarket on Fergus, (€ 100,000) and enhancement of the centre in Clarecastle (€ 50,000) with no such expansion in North Tipperary. This is substantial in providing services to older people. County Clare is at an advanced stage of planning for further day provision for people with dementia through the Alzheimer’s society with no such dedicated provision in North Tipperary.”