Older Persons Needs and Cares

BALLINASLOE ACTIVE RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION SEMINAR
Nearly a hundred members of the Ballinasloe Active Retirement Association braved the elements last Thursday to attend their seminar on `Older Persons Needs and Cares`. Despite the heavy snow fall, Brian Judd C.E.O. Active Retirement Ireland made his way from Dublin, Pascal McDaid Member A.R.I. &Retired Programme Manager former W.H.B. travelled from Galway. Kevin Molloy National Chairman Active Ireland travelled up from Wexford.
Louis Finn Chairman of the local branch welcomed and praised all in attendance and read out apologies. Jimmy Crehan who was chairman for the day got the meeting underway.
Brian Judd outlining the structure membership and aspirations said that there were 428 local associations,7 regional councils with 23,500 members. This vast untapped membership should be the reference point for the delivery of reports and recommendations on how we should live our lives, Some State sponsored bodies are piggybacking on the Associations Membership to further their own aims
Quoting Mary Harney(11Th. December 2006) `The support system around long term nursing care are scrappy, inconsistent and unfair They turn the issue of going into a Nursing Home into a trauma for the individual and for their family` This from the Minister for Health does not inspire confidence in the direction the care for the elderly is taking. Commenting on Nursing Home reports on the H.S.E. web site which contain comments like `substantially in compliance` he suggested they contact ‘Failte Ireland’ on how a report should be presented. He was heartened to part of a national organisation which increasingly was taking a very active role in how their future is being mapped out.
Jimmy Crehan said in his address that the generation now in retirement and under so much pressure, were the generation who sacrificed to ensure for a better future. Thrift and hardship ensured our children got the best possible education and care. Tax at 60%, P.R.S.I. and Superannuation made us fully paid up members of this state. Trust and faith were placed in Governments that better times were to come `the rising tide would lift all the boats ` we were told. It was felt that the 1970 Health Act was there as a safety net, the ultimate protection, this turns out not to be so.
The handing over of the care for the elderly to private nursing home industry was done without consultation and almost by stealth. Fifteen years ago one million people were working in this country and there were 200 beds in St. Brendan’s home in Loughrea. To day we two million working plus the increase in the population and the extra wealth yet the capacity of St, Brendans is being reduced to 120 beds. Scandals, the ever increasing cost of beds and the inability of the H.S.E.to close down private nursing homes because there are no publicly funded beds is a disgrace. This makes all efforts at regulation and inspections futile and a waste of time and money.
Calling for nothing short of a complete reversal of Government policy regarding the provision of adequate publicly funded beds Mr,Crehen also pointed out the whole concept of home care (means tested) is an attempt to wriggle out of the provisions of the 1970 Health Act.
The phasing out of the excellent Alzimers service in st. Brigids on top of the closure of the Alcoholic unit previously, without any local alternative provisions is difficult to understand. Accepting that day care and meals on wheels is dependent on charity shows where the misguided celtic tiger culture has led our society.
No excuses are acceptable to Mr.Crehan, the Government of the day he said will point out that millions are being spent, but the services are not being delivered. Accountability has gone out the window. The health service looks completely different from the bottom looking up than from the top looking down. From the top down it`s all about advisers, managers, titles, from the bottom up it`s all about trolleys, lack of service, and M.R.S.A.
Pascal McDaid gave a very comprehensive and honest assessment of the former Health Boards. While pointing out that the Health Boards lacked uniformity and were subject to local pressures, the H.S.E. has become too centralised and remote. With no way of influencing, what is in effect, one of the most important aspects in everyday life, people are dissatisfied with the new arrangement. A case in point was the non appearance of the main speaker from the H.S.E. who was to talk on the future plans for the western region.
Refuting the proposed Fair Deal discussion document as a completely dishonest effort by the Government to move the goalposts, he said, provision has already been enshrined in law for the care of the retired and elderly in the 1970 Health Act. What is now being preposed is another form of indirect taxation on the elderly , a one % levy would encompass a properly funded scheme for all citizens now and into the future.
A very lively discussion took place when the meeting was thrown open to the floor. The sale of the Mental Hospital grounds, which are a asset to the town, without assurances that some of this land be set aside for social projects was voiced most adamantly Fears that once the land is sold the proceeds will just vanish into the vast H.S.E. bureaucracy were voiced. Many voiced their disappointment and anger that the representative of the H.S.E. chose not to attend the meeting, after arrangements were altered to accommodate him. A general feeling of helplessness and the feeling that as citizens, nobody was listening to the ordinary person was also expressed. Amazement was expressed at the thought process that closed the Alcoholic unit and the continuance of that policy in running down the alzimers ward. People are living longer. Alcohol is being abused, the population is growing yet those charged with forward planning cannot see that these services will need to be expanded instead of closed down
Louis Finn thanked all who attended especially the speakers and closed the meeting.

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