HSE West has removed 10,625 home help hours from 1,858 older people & people with a disability throughout the West of Ireland in the last month, local TD, Denis Naughten has disclosed.

In figures released to Deputy Naughten it is clear that the HSE West region has made up half the home help cuts for the whole country over the last month, which is putting significant strain on carers and on our health service.

For each older person who has to attend A&E because of the reduction in home help support, it is costing the HSE €265. If that person has to go into a nursing home it could cost the HSE up to €1,200 per week.

Surely it makes more sense from a caring perspective and from an economic perspective to keep people at home.

I would again urge the HSE to reverse its cuts to home help which is not going to achieve the required savings and is going to cost far more in the long term.

“But this is not just about money, more importantly it is about quality of life and keeping people in their own community as long as possible” concluded Denis Naughten.