HEALTH CHARGES DO NOT PROMOTE INDEPENDENT LIVING – INCLUSION IRELAND

Difficulties faced by parents of people with an intellectual disability and service users were discussed at a large public meeting in Limerick. Health charges and severe shortages in therapy services were among the issues discussed.

The meeting, which was held in the Castletroy Park Hotel on 27 November, was called by the Daughters of Charity to discuss the controversial long stay health charges. Since July 2005 charges for long stay care is not just confined to older people in nursing care, but also affects people with intellectual disability living in residential services and community homes. Speakers included Daughters of Charity CEO Wally Freyne, Inclusion Ireland CEO Deirdre Carroll and Clíona Ní Chualáin, also of Inclusion Ireland. Deirdre Carroll said Inclusion Ireland believes assessment of need and collection of charges should not be undertaken by the service provider, and should be the responsibility of the HSE. Ms. Carroll also said charges were excessive and were not suited to people with intellectual disability who want to live as independently as possible in their own communities.

Other issues highlighted included the severe shortage of therapy services for children and adults with disabilities in the area. Mr. Richard Curtin, Chairman of the Lisnagry Association a group representing the parents of service users in St. Vincent’s Lisnagry, expressed the group’s frustration at the current level of service provision. Plans by the HSE to improve the delivery of services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy were described as inadequate. Mr. Curtin said the HSE’s plan to put in place a multi-disciplinary team of 6 therapists to assess and treat all school-going children in East Limerick are totally inadequate. He said not only would this provision be barely adequate to serve the needs of 80 children with a disability in the special school in Lisnagry, but it is also expected that this provision would support all children with disabilities in the 100 mainstream schools in the region, as well as the special schools. Parents present at the public meeting spoke of their personal experiences, and voiced their support for improved therapy provision. One parent described that her child has become physically disabled as a result of having no physiotherapy and is now confined to a wheelchair.

ENDS

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