THE HEALTH Service Executive has apologised for instructing nursing homes in some parts of the country to cut the use of incontinence pads supplied to elderly patients to save money.
Last month, a letter was sent by the HSE Primary, Continuing and Community Care services covering Carlow and Kilkenny directing nursing homes and public health nurses to restrict the use of the pads to three per day for each patient.
The letter, which was dated April 2nd, said that the bill for incontinence wear in community care and nursing homes was €400,000 in 2011 in Carlow and Kilkenny.
“We have been directed by the HSE to reduce this cost. In order to do this we are now instructing that the maximum number of pads you can supply to each patient is three per day,” it said. “Please amend your monthly continence order accordingly. This directive must commence from 1st of May, 2012.”
A follow-up letter, dated May 2nd, told nursing homes the position had been clarified and the allocation for incontinence wear was to be reduced by one pad per patient per day.
“Please examine your monthly order and make the necessary adjustments,” it said. “The deficit to their continence needs must be paid for by the patient.”
In a statement issued yesterday, the HSE said there would be no change in the supply of incontinence wear to clients.
“The HSE apologises for and wishes to withdraw any item of correspondence issued which may have suggested otherwise,” the statement said.
“The HSE wishes to reassure the public that in the area of continence assessment, every effort is made to adhere to best practice in the assessment and supply of continence wear to our patients.”
It also said up to €17 million is spent annually on a range of products including incontinence sheets, incontinence pads and children’s nappies.
Nursing Homes Ireland welcomed the withdrawal of the letters. The body’s chief executive, Tadhg Daly, said that, irrespective of budgetary restraints, such a measure was “completely unacceptable and an attack on our most vulnerable”.
Eamon Timmins, spokesman for older people’s charity Age Action, also welcomed the “quick retraction”.
It was essential that the amount of incontinence wear needed by a nursing home resident or person in the community was based on a professional medical assessment of their needs, rather than budgetary issues, he said.
“We note that the HSE says every effort is made to adhere to the best practice in the assessment and supply of continence wear, and hope this means that patient quotas will never apply, but that the HSE will work with people to help them live with dignity,” Mr Timmins said.
