Anyone who watched with horror the final RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme of the season on Monday night could be nothing other than shocked and heartbroken at the tragic stories depicted in the show.
The programme illustrated a dysfunctional health care system in which carers are left to suffer alone and with very minimal supports. Carers featured were at their wits’ end, having spent years begging for crumbs from the health service as they struggle to care for their loved ones in a family setting.
It was heartbreaking and so, so sad that in the 21st century our health system is so broken and dysfunctional that people are stripped of their dignity as they deal courageously with debilitating illnesses and syndromes.
More than once I had to leave the room, so disturbing and upsetting were the tragic stories being told.
Cutbacks, cutbacks, cutbacks - a mantra constantly ringing in the head of carers the length and breadth of this country.
And now due to the overburden and stress of caring without adequate supports the carers themselves are suffering health problems. In fact a quarter of carers have suffered health problems due to being overworked.
So who will care for the carer? Not the HSE because the money simply isn’t there.
One foundation featured on the Frontline last Monday was the Jack and Jill Foundation, whose founder says with €4.5 million funding he could save the HSE €42 million annually. It’s not rocket science.
Family carers need respite, financial and emotional support and aids to adequately carry out their jobs. They also need to be recognised as an important section of society who, when their loved ones are no longer with us, should be entitled to the same social welfare supports as anyone whose job has been taken away from them. One woman featured on the Frontline outlined how, when her parents both pass away, she has six weeks to get her house in order and to get to the dole office to beg for assistance. She said she is considered unemployed right now but will not be entitled to assistance once those in her care are no longer with us.
The cuts in our health service are simply a false economy.
The tragic thing is as well as watching the suffering and pain of a loved one, nothing is offered willingly and everything has to be begged and fought for.
Jonathan Irwin of Jack and Jill told the Frontline of the mindset that existed in the health service in 1996 when his son Jack was born. Back then the health service didn’t take on babies with severe intellectual and physical development problems because it was thought they would die before their second birthday. According to Mr Irwin this attitude is changing.
However, Jack & Jill is facing a serious shortfall in its funding due to a drop in public donations and failure to secure the full €1.35 million HSE grant it requires for 2011.
The whole thing defies logic. It is absurd to think that the help is out there at a far lesser cost to the HSE than their providing the service themselves. But that is the reality.
The Jack & Jill foundation look after nine children in Mayo at a monthly cost of €2,976 and an annual cost of €35,712. But once the children reach schoolgoing age the HSE is supposed to take over their care. Unfortunately it is not straightforward. The next crisis facing parents of these children is the cutbacks in SNAs. The story goes on. It is so messed up. It is heart breaking.
Toni Bourke
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