Home helpers work unpaid rather than leave elderly

Home help hours have been cut back with the result that some are putting in extra time unpaid, out of a personal sense of duty, members of Cavan County Council have claimed. A call for the HSE to stop changing home helps for elderly people at short notice, made by Cllr. John O'Hare at Monday's meeting of the council, sparked the outcry about home help cutbacks. "There seems to be a widespread practice throughout the country of home helps being changed at short notice," according to Cllr. O'Hare, who said "numerous representations" had been made to him about such cases. He called for a letter to be written to Minister for Health Mary Harney and Professor Brendan Drumm, chief executive of the HSE, to stop the practice which he said was "very upsetting" for old and vulnerable people after building up a relationship with their home help. Other councillors, however, joined in voicing concern about home help services being cut back, with some saying they know of cases where home helps work extra time voluntarily because of their own commitment to the service user. "There have been major cutbacks," said Cllr. Pauline McCauley for Sinn Féin. "Some people get as little as 15 minutes a day. What good is that to anyone?" she asked, pointing out that if these quarter-hours are added together, it leaves the service user without any visit another day. "What is happening is that the home helps do more voluntarily - maybe that's what the department wants, I don't know," she commented. Other councillors gave anecdotal evidence of similar cases. Cllr. Maura Maguire-Lynch said she knew a woman with MS who gets 45 minutes a week of help for washing and drying clothes and wondered how this could be accomplished. Cllr. Madeleine Argue said she knows some home helps who stay on past their paid hours, which puts them under pressure, and Cllr. Aidan Boyle said he knows an 88-year-old whose hours were cut from 15 to 13 a week. "If people are allocated a half-hour, home helps give a lot more," said Cllr. Patricia Walsh. "I know from experience." Cllr. McCauley figured that providing adequate home help to keep people out of hospital "will save money in the long-run", and she also supported Cllr. O'Hare's motion. "It makes economic sense to spend money on home help," agreed Cllr. Dessie Boylan, as did Cllrs. Argue and Fergal Curtin, with Cllrs. Sean McKiernan and Paddy O'Reilly also voicing support of the motion. For Fianna Fail, Cllr. Gerry Murray told members that the "good news" is that some €211 million has been allocated for home help - the same for this year as last. "Funding was and is there, and will continue," he said. Cllr. O'Hare concluded that "cutbacks can come from other areas, but not the elderly".