A 96-year-old lady my constituency was admitted to Bantry General Hospital on 9 September after a fall. Prior to going to hospital, this lady was receiving 8.5 hours home help a week with no cover at weekends. She was ready to be discharged two and a half weeks later. It was recommended by the hospital that she would require additional home support from the HSE. The family was told that this support was not available due to a shortage of home support. I am now advised by the HSE that the additional home support was not available. More worrying than that, I was told that two home support workers who had been looking after her prior to her admission to hospital had been redeployed to work with other patients. This 96-year-old lady is still in Bantry hospital but she is going to be sent home with only two and a half hours of home support per week. It defies belief that a 96-year-old lady would have her home help removed at the point of being discharged from hospital. Is it a new HSE policy whereby if an elderly person is admitted to hospital, his or her home help will be removed and, as a result, he or she will not be able to go home? This is scandalous treatment of a 96-year-old woman and I sincerely ask the Tánaiste to investigate this matter because something stinks to high heaven here. This 96-year-old woman deserves the respect of the State, and it is being refused to her.

I thank the Deputy. I can certainly confirm that that is not HSE or Government policy. I am very sorry to hear of the experience that lady has had. Again, it is very difficult for me to comment on individual cases in the absence of details. If the Deputy would like to pass on more information, either to my office or to that of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, we will certainly look into the matter.