THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) has been urged to increase its annual funding to a charity which saves the State substantial sums each year by providing nursing care in the home to children with brain damage.
A report on the cost of care for young children with severe disabilities from Prof Charles Normand of TCD, published yesterday, put the cost of caring for such children in hospital at more than €147,000 a year. It says if these children were cared for at home with the support of the Jack Jill Foundation’s team, the annual cost is nine times less, at €16,422 per child.
The foundation currently supports 291 disabled children under the age of four years in their own homes across the State. Extending services to those aged 4-6 years would cost €1.9 million a year, and the report recommends that the HSE should fill this financing gap.
Eddie Hobbs, who is patron of the foundation, said if the charity ceased to exist and half of the children it supports had to be cared for in hospital, it would cost the State more than €410,000 a week.