A lack of funds has been cited as the reason there are currently more than 530 patients in the Southern Trust area waiting on a domiciliary care package.
At a recent board meeting of the Southern HSC Trust, director of Adult Community Services, Brian Beattie explained that things are improving to a degree through efficiency measures, however it will take a long time to meet the needs of all patients.
He stated at the meeting, held on June 20: “As of yesterday, we had 532 care packages not being done. We haven’t been given a budget for it and it is an unmet need.
“We are doing our best to actually streamline every care package that we have, to make sure that those people who are currently in receipt are getting the right amount.
“If they’re not getting enough, that they get what they need, and also if they are in a position of over-provision, that it’s actually reduced. It’s to free up care hours for those on the waiting list.
“Another point in relation to our care monitoring system, it will help us run a more efficient service than we are already running.
“We can see that there will be improvements but they’re not achieved yet.
“Another initiative, under the banner of an early review team, has actually shown over the first three-month period that we had freed up about 2,700 hours of domiciliary care.
“We are seeing a steady decrease – slow but steady. We had been at 800 at one point on the waiting list, we are now down to 532. We hope to see a continued decrease on that level of unmet need. It’s going to take a number of years, to be honest.”
