It is shameful that 20 people under the age of 65 will remain in nursing homes this year due to a \u20ac5 million HSE funding shortfall, according to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.<\/p>\n
Deputy Cairns, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on disability, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an update on his 2021 \u2018Wasted Lives\u2019 report, Ombudsman Ger Deering highlighted the cases of younger people who are trapped in nursing homes due to a lack of more appropriate supported facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cShamefully, it has now emerged that a \u20ac5 million funding shortfall is being blamed for a failure to move 20 people out of an inappropriate nursing home setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile, despite Government assurances that this is a priority issue, the number of younger people in nursing homes has gone up since Mr Deering\u2019s damning 2021 report.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping younger people in nursing homes is highly inappropriate and is an affront to their dignity and right to independence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of housing for disabled people is a crisis within a crisis, breaching individuals\u2019 rights who have no choice but to remain in congregated settings due to a lack of accessible housing and an absence of home support services.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the necessary funding had been committed from the outset, it would have been possible to move every remaining person in congregated settings to homes in the community within the lifetime of this Government.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, we have seen the numbers of people under 65 in nursing homes actually grow. This situation is symptomatic of how people with disabilities and their families are treated by the State.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government policy, \u2018A Time to Move On From Congregated Settings\u2019, was clear in recommending that all congregated settings would be closed by 2018. This did not happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cArticle 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees the right to live independently in the community rather than in institutions. People with disabilities should be able to live outside of institutions, contributing to our communities and living as independently as possible. It is simply a matter of investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot stand idly by and allow disabled people to be left high and dry by the State. There must be a commitment in the upcoming Budget to invest in enabling disabled people to live independently in their own communities, outside of a congregated setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 19, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is shameful that 20 people under the age of 65 will remain in nursing homes this year due to a \u20ac5 million HSE funding shortfall, according to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns. Deputy Cairns, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on disability, said: \u201cIn an update on his 2021 \u2018Wasted Lives\u2019 report, Ombudsman Ger Deering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[499,400,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disability","category-holly-cairns","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n