Concern at elderly care proposals – Daly

Fine Gael Kildare South General Election candidate, Cllr Richard Daly, has said he is concerned about a number of aspects of the Government's new proposals on long-term care for the elderly.

“We have seen the introduction of a new death tax on the elderly. It appears the Government intends to wash its hands entirely of the future care of the elderly, those who built up this country, worked in far more difficult times than now and paid their taxes and PRSI, but now find they will be subject to a death tax after they have gone, in some cases requiring the sale of the family home.

“The persons who will need nursing home care in the next ten to 15 years are those who worked in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, built the Celtic tiger and paid their taxes and PRSI. They find themselves levied with a new death tax of 15 per-cent.
“The Government’s proposal is built on three pillars, namely, an inspectorate regime for nursing homes, community services and this funding proposal. The Government seems completely unaware of what is happening in respect of the provision of community services. It is some years since those in psychiatric institutions were abandoned in communities with no facilities to support them, but I see something similar happening now.

“The Government is proposing that by January 1, 2008, there will be community services to look after elderly people in their homes and communities. The current rate of provision of such services makes a mockery of this issue. The Government is living in fantasyland if it believes the services will be provided. There are not enough general practitioners, nurses, occupational therapists or home-helpers and the State cannot employ the physiotherapists it has trained. Where will the Government find the personnel to provide cover to people refused entry to nursing homes?

“To expect those services to be in place by January 1, 2008 is complete and utter fantasy. If the Government has been unable to prevent the serious abuse of some elderly in some licensed nursing homes, where a monitoring regime is supposed to exist, how does it expect that a community service to look after those elderly who are semi-highly dependent can be put in place by that date? How can it justify this as one of the fundamental pillars of this new programme, which also includes a death tax?

“The Government has always proclaimed itself a low-tax Government, but it has introduced a raft of stealth charges and new taxes in the past few years. In the Budget, the health levy was increased by 25 per-cent, there was an increase in the cost of private beds in public hospitals, and the Government voted through a measure requiring 5 per-cent of the notional value of a person’s home to be assessed for the purposes of a claim for subvention.

“What will happen in the case of a person who is unable to avail of home supports and is required to go to a nursing home, but is refused for not being high-dependency? Are these people being told to get lost and go back where they came from? If they are refused the option of nursing homes, where will they go?



“In a country of considerable wealth, we have failed once again to provide for the vulnerable. That is the legacy of this Government.”