Family respite care
Deputy McGrath highlights the poor scorecard for family carers, especially the lack of respite care, and cites an exhausted mother seeking help for her severely disabled son. The Tánaiste says funding and respite hours have increased, but more work remains.
Family Carers Ireland launched its annual scorecard report for 2017 earlier today. While some improvements are recorded, the overall performance is abysmal, particularly in the area of family respite care. It is almost impossible to get respite care in this country. I know of a woman whose 21 year old son has been in hospital since August. She is trying to get him home but has only been offered four hours and even within those four hours, she must be present at all times. She has been caring for her young son 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She is an excellent mother whose son is severely disabled. I ask the Tánaiste to do something about respite care because the lack thereof is clogging up beds in hospitals and is adding to the crisis in emergency departments too.
