Care crisis: 'I was just sitting at home, all day, every day' without a personal assistant

Sun, 08 Oct, 2023 - 14:05

Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent

Anger, distress and confusion — these are the reactions of people with disabilities in Cork who face losing assistants, transport and day-care access if a threatened strike by HSE-funded agencies goes ahead. The strike, set for October 17, is over pay equality.

Paul MacGuinness, 34, said the Irish Wheelchair Association centre in Mahon is his only outlet.

“It’s escapism, getting out of the day-to-day mundane stuff, meeting people and putting some structure on the week,” he said.

This article is part of the Care crisis series about the funding of voluntary and community care organisations published online here from Sunday, October 8 and in the 'Irish Examiner' from October 9

Paul has cerebellar ataxia which affects his ability to control his muscles. He explained: “I’m wobbly on my feet, my fine motor skills aren’t great. I used to walk, but then my eyes started to fail on me. The muscles open and close when they want.”

Until about 18 months ago he was at home every day, but now goes to the centre a few times weekly to meet his friends.

He has been funded for a personal assistant to support him at home but said:

I was approved with Cheshire Homes, but they can’t seem to employ anyone — probably because of the pay. I was allocated the money back in November.

An assistant could help him bake or cook, he said, adding: “I can do most of the housework myself, but hoovering carpets now I find very difficult.”

He is baffled by the lack of support for those who help him, saying: “I do think it’s desperately unfair.

“They are doing the exact same work as the HSE but they’re not getting paid the same.”

Paul feels his needs are not being considered, saying: “The [decision-makers] just see it as finances going down the drain. We’re forgotten I think.”

Christine Dinneen, 65, gets help from two personal assistants (PAs) as well as attending the IWA centre.

Christine Dinnenn at the Irish Wheelchair Association centre in Mahon, Cork: ‘I think it’s a disgrace they can’t get equal pay, and I think it’s about time the Government did something about it.’ Picture: Dan Linehan

“[The assistants] made a big difference to my day when they came to me first,” she said.

“I wasn’t going out anywhere because my husband was working and my son and daughter were at college. I was just sitting at home, all day, every day. I was very frustrated because I couldn’t go out like I used to.”

Christine, who lives in Cobh is reliant on a wheelchair following complications with spinal surgery.

The assistants take her for doctors’ appointments, and one introduced her to the centre: “I never looked back after that, it was like getting a new lease of life.”

Their contact continued even during the pandemic lockdowns, when staff arrived complete with primus stove to make tea in her garden.

On hearing about the strike, she said “I was upset about it because I look forward to coming up here on a Thursday, and I look forward to going out with my PA.

“I think it’s a disgrace they can’t get equal pay, and I think it’s about time the Government did something about it.”

Mary Maher, 68, is originally from Waterville in Kerry and now lives in Ballincollig, Co Cork.

Mary Maher, an Irish Wheelchair Association service user in Mahon, Cork, says: ‘If the Government could see what we see — but they don’t, they don’t see this as valuable.’ Picture: Dan Linehan

“It’s the comradery, the friendship, the outing is very important,” she said.

“We’ve great support here, and during covid they came to the house, well came to the door and kept in touch all the time.

“You look forward to coming here. I come Thursdays, I used to come three days but then covid stopped all that and now the lack of staff — there’s staffing shortages now.”

She relies on a wheelchair following complications with a badly broken leg about 20 years ago.

“I can’t stand,” she said. “I could drive to Donegal but there has to be someone here to put the wheelchair in and someone at the other end to take it out. You have to organise everything.”

She said a fourth person usually attends their Thursday group, but there was no IWA driver available this week so their friend had to miss out.

She echoes criticism of the need to strike, saying: “They are picking on vulnerable people really, because the people that come to these places obviously have some issues.

“If the Government could see what we see — but they don’t, they don’t see this as valuable.”

“If the government could see what we see, but they don’t, they don’t see this as valuable.”

'The HSE is our biggest competitor'

Staff at the Irish Wheelchair Association in Mahon in Cork find the prospect of strike action distressing but say the gap between their pay and that of HSE staff doing the same work can no longer be accepted.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has announced it is taking industrial action from October 17 for pay parity between the HSE and Section-39 state-funded agencies.

Martin McCarthy, the Irish Wheelchair Association (IWA) area manager for Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, North Tipperary, said they support over 40,000 people nationally.

Their largest service is assisted living, where personal assistants support people with disabilities.

“We might drive someone to work in their own car if they can’t physically get there,” he said. “Some people need assistance at work — an accountant for example who might have had a stroke. It’s quite a vital invisible service, we don’t wear badges when we’re supporting people.”

He said assistants take people shopping, to cafes, or help them with banking. They work closely with the HSE and have a good relationship locally.

“We do the same job,” he said. “Basically we have healthcare assistants actually supporting the same person, so someone in the community who has a two-person transfer — the HSE would support us and we support them.” He adds: “During the pandemic, we were covering HSE shifts and they were covering us. [The salary] really mattered.” He opens a graph illustrating HSE and IWA healthcare assistants earning €15.82 per hour in 2008, falling to €15 by 2010 following recession-era cuts.

However while HSE wages are now €20.02 per, IWA staff earn €15.82 per hour. Over a month of 35-hour weeks the difference could reach €600.

“There was a lot of ill-feeling,” he said. “The point is we are losing staff to the HSE. The HSE funds our service and we are working on their behalf but they are our biggest competitor. At the moment nationally we have about 400 vacancies in our services”.

Ursula Jermyn, the community centre service co-ordinator in Mahon said this hits service users directly:

“We have 10 places that we can’t fill since the start of the pandemic. Most of them would have been drivers.”

In her own case, she said: “I know there’s increased taxes, but my take-home pay now isn’t the same as what it was before 2008.”

Talks before the Workplace Relations Commission stalled when unions rejected what they saw as an inadequate pay increase offer of 5%.

At the time, the Department of Health described Section 39 agencies as privately operated, saying working conditions are between staff and direct employers.

Mr McCarthy said: “They’re not responsible, yet they are our commissioner. We are funded by our commissioners who are the HSE. I think that’s a cop-out, it’s disrespectful.

“We are providing services on their behalf. That is a complete cop-out, it’s not fair.”

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He hopes agreement can be reached, and grows quiet as he contemplates potential impacts of a strike.

“The last thing we want is for someone who totally depends on the Irish Wheelchair Association to end up having no home visit, no-one to call to them,” he said. “They may end up calling an ambulance and being shifted into acute care. That’s what is going to happen, that is the worst possible scenario.”

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