Homecare crisis in south Leitrim with several people without help

There is a homecare crisis in south Leitrim, a local councillor told the Leitrim Observer this week, stating that a number of families are being left without care due to lack of recruitment. 

Cllr Gary Prior told us: "After Christmas, I had four different families contacting me; there is a huge scarcity of homecare workers on the ground and it's causing serious hardship for people and families. The problem is that people have retired and haven't been replaced; there has been no recruitment in the homecare sector."

He said he believed that the vacant positions have yet to be advertised so "this will still take a number of months before this is solved. We have another woman retiring shortly one town and there are ten to 12 clients who don't have cover. An agency may pick up two or three clients but that would be the most."

Last month, The Irish Times reported that there was an “acute shortage” of care workers against a background of rising demand for care.

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Cllr Prior continued: "The fact that the haven't recruited in years is causing this issue. If they don't advertise the roles, they won't be filled. They were supposed to advertise before Christmas and they didn't. Here we are, the first week in January, and it has still to be advertised and people are without care in their homes. In the south Leitrim area, it is a massive problem at the moment. People are having to make do with family."

Cllr Prior said that it is an issue that needs to be addressed by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeil. "The Minister for Health and Kieran O'Donnell, Minister of State for Older People, are the two people who need to act on this and start recruitment on the ground immediately so we can get people working. It will take a number of months by the time advertisement is carried out and then recruitment starts and then there is Garda vetting and all that. I spoke with a woman in the HSE the other day and she told me it is at crisis point at the moment."