HSE overspend leads to home help service suspension

Home help hours and home care packages for the elderly in Galway have been suspended.

The suspension took effect from August, and will last until at least December, it was confirmed at the latest HSE West Regional Health Forum.

The reason for the cut back now is because the HSE West overspent on home help and home care in the first quarter of the year and now it had to ‘rein in’ its spending.

Galway county councillor Mary Hoade (FF) said she was aware of several cases in Galway where home help hours and home care packages have been suspended. Only cancer patients were exempt from the cutback, she remarked.

She described the cuts to home help as “worrying” and “frustrating”, and they were hitting the most vulnerable – elderly.

Tony Canavan, Chief Officer of Saolta University Hospital Group, in his written response said, the health service locally had been “providing home care supports in excess of the funded levels of service and is now required to bring the level of service and expenditure back into line and within allocated budgets”.

When questioned by Cllr Hoade, Mr Canavan explained that the HSE had overspent its budget for home help and home care packages in the first three or four months of the year, and it was now obliged to bring its budget back on an “even keel.”

He said he hoped that the situation would have ‘levelled off’ by November, and by December there will be more hours to allocate. He said he had also applied to the Department of Health for more funding under the newly announced ‘winter initiative’, which may result in more home help and home care packages.