Staff shortages see MS sufferer’s homecare package slashed by two-thirds

Bearna woman Noreen Greaney – mother, grandmother, and multiple sclerosis sufferer of over 40 years – is the human face of the ongoing scandal of staffing shortages and cutbacks to the HSE’s home support services.

Noreen’s homecare package – vital to give some quality of life, dignity and support to remain living in her own home – has been slashed from 42 hours a week to just 15.

This has heaped stress and worry on Noreen and her family, and in particular her eldest daughter and carer Gertrude Greaney-Dorgere.

According to advocacy groups, similar cutbacks right across Galway are forcing dozens of families to move loved ones into nursing homes.

Many more people eligible for homecare and home help remain in hospital or are moved to nursing homes. That’s because care hours they are allocated that would allow them to live independently at home, and that they are entitled to, are not being fulfilled.

The HSE has blamed a shortage of carers for its failure to fulfill care hours promised in homecare packages.

Gertrude decided to speak out to highlight an issue impacting many vulnerable people who do not have a voice.

“There are people who have no-one, and they’re just being left in bed. That’s the reality, if I wasn’t at home, mum would be left in bed because they claim they don’t have the carers, or she’d have to go into a home – it’s crazy,” she said.

It started to go wrong this summer when the care company Noreen has had for years had difficulty recruiting staff.

In September, the company handed the contract back to the HSE, and said they did not have staff to cover calls.

They worked out a month’s notice but during that time, the care company was sending one – not the required two – carers to Bearna, at greatly reduced hours, including some who did not know how to use a hoist.

Read the full shocking story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie