STILL NO RESPITE CARE IN REGION
A few months ago John Doyle was delighted to travel to Leinster House to meet with Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath to discuss the chronic lack of respite care in the North West.
Today, he says the trip was a ‘complete waste of time’ and Deputy McGrath was just paying lip service.
“One hundred percent he was only saying what we wanted to hear. There was no point in us going to Dublin. Minister McGrath could not believe it when I told him I had not got respite for my son, Evan in 15 months. He told me ‘I can not believe you are that long without a break.’ ”
Crucially John says as the meeting had gone so well he fully expected action to follow. But just last week he received confirmation from the Minister that he can not get involved in the issue which is the remit of the HSE locally.
Meanwhile the HSE has said that at present anyone looking for respite in Sligo has to travel to Monaghan - a five hour round trip. John says not only is the distance a problem, but those using respite may find the unfamiliar surroundings and new staff upsetting. “I would not send Evan (21) to Monaghan. If anything happened we as parents are nearly three hours away. Also Evan is non verbal and cannot do anything for himself. He would be going into a situation where staff do not know him. They could have all the experience in the world but without knowing him how do they know what he is looking for? He used Solas - our own Sligo based purpose built respite centre since 2009. It was on our doorstep but since it closed earlier this year all that has been taken away.”
The HSE has said: “Arrangements are now in place to outsource the respite service to an external provider/ non statutory agency that has the appropriate professional capacity and experience and expertise to provide this service. A tendering process is now underway which is due to be finalised in the coming weeks.”