IF THE Government does “nothing else” for carers, it should implement a strategy which integrates caring and support services, Prof Joyce O’Connor has said.
Valentine’s Day should also be designated as “national carers day” to raise awareness of and pay tribute to the role of over 161,000 carers in the State, Prof O’Connor has said.
“It is time that due recognition was paid to the value of this invisible army, largely based in the home and community,” Prof O’Connor, patron of Caring for Carers Ireland (CCI) said at the organisation’s national conference in Galway at the weekend.
Prof O’Connor, who is president emeritus of the National College of Ireland and former chair of Digital Hub Ireland, said it was time to move on from the “historic provision of a fragmented and episodic care support system”.
A strategy should involve a “wide spectrum of care providers”, in the home, the community, through home care services and institutional care, and should aim to streamline services and ensure uniform provision, she said.
“At a time when we are looking at public service reform, and a time when the EU is warning of a demographic challenge due to our ageing population, a serious examination of existing structures would do an enormous amount,” she said.
“Money isn’t just the issue here,” she said.
“We will all be caring or we will need care, and so a coherent approach will benefit us all. The reality now is that one is more likely to get a better service in Dublin than in the west, for instance,” she said.
A strategy review was carried out by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and this should be published, Prof O’Connor added.
Without a long-term approach, “the future of care looks bleak, and will fall to the State whose record is abysmal,” she said.
CCI president Mary McMahon also called for publication of the strategy review, and welcomed the Government’s commitment in the renewed programme for Government last October to continue to “recognise and support” the role of family carers.
Publication of this study was “an essential step in economic times when institutional care will not be available to many in need of health care,” Ms McMahon said.
A husband and wife who are registered carers for each other received a special award at the Galway conference.
Kathleen and Francis Cunningham were presented with the award by Minister of State for Health Áine Brady.
The couple, who met each other on a Rehab bus, have been married for 18 years and care for each other at their home on Galway’s Headford Road.
Kathleen, from Furbo, Co Galway, is in a motorised wheelchair, due to a long term disability, and requires physical assistance which Francis provides.
Her husband, who is from Spiddal, has had severe epilepsy since he was a child. Francis says he rarely goes three weeks without an episode, and Kathleen’s main role then is to help him cope with a seizure, and to call for medical help if required.
The couple paid tribute to CCI, the Irish Epilepsy Association and the Irish Wheelchair Association, along with medical staff at Galway’s two hospitals, when they received their award at the weekend.
“Our faith has helped us, but I have to say a sense of humour is essential,” Kathleen said.
CCI has a network of over 100 carer groups. Training for just over 1,000 carers has been funded by Pobal through the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
