Hannah Donnelly homecare case
Imelda Munster again pressed for a homecare package for 18-year-old Hannah Donnelly, who had remained in hospital for 19 months. The Minister said he could not direct the HSE but would personally review the case and reply in writing.
I am raising yet again the issue of homecare packages. Three weeks ago, I referred to the plight of an 18 year old girl, Hannah Donnelly from Drogheda, who has been in hospital for over two and a half years. For the last 19 months she has been in hospital because she has been denied an adequate homecare package. It is three weeks since I raised the case and I have written to the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, about it. It appears that neither of them has intervened to secure Hannah's homecare package. At this stage I am wondering. She is 18 years of age and has been waiting for 19 months for a homecare package. She is desperate to get home and her parents are desperate to have her home. Is it that the Minister simply does not care enough? Why has he not looked into the case? How is it that the Government-----
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He is turning a blind eye to an 18 year old girl with Apert syndrome-----
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-----who has been languishing in a hospital bed for 19 months because she cannot obtain a homecare package. Will the Minister intervene and make sure she gets home?
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I will have to move on. The Deputy is normally orderly. The Minister has to have an opportunity to answer. He is not a slow learner and knows exactly what the Deputy has said.
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That is the kind of thing that has not been said about me in a long time, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Deputy Munster was making a legitimate case until she decided that she had a monopoly of caring. We all care in this House. The Health Act 2007 actually prohibits me - if the Deputy would like to amend it, she should do so - from directing the HSE to provide care for anyone. However, I will personally take a look at the case, as will the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath. I will reply to the Deputy in writing. It sounds like a very difficult situation for Hannah and her family to be in. We have provided significant additional resources in the budget. I will revert to the Deputy directly.