Older People To Be Hit Hardest Over Proposed Health Cuts

Over half of the £70 million of savings proposed by NI Health Trusts are likely to affect older people, according to the Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland.

Mr Eddie Lynch said: "I am deeply concerned that once again, older people will be hit the hardest by budget cuts. Over half of the savings proposed by the Trusts are likely to have a negative impact on older people. Whilst over 65s do tend to use more health and social care services than others, it seems disproportionate that they will bear the brunt of the cuts.

"The majority of the cuts affecting older people are to services within the community. These are services which many older people depend on to live as independently as possible and I'm very concerned about the impact that this will have, both on the older people and on their families. OIder people deserve to have the care that they have been assessed as needing and when this care is not provided, additional pressure falls on family carers, many of whom are older people themselves.

"The reduction of services which enable older people to be cared for at home or in their communities is a false economy. Failing to adequately care for older people in the short term increases the chances of their health deteriorating and requiring more costly intervention. The proposed reduction in domiciliary care and care home packages will result in more hospital admissions and longer stays, which can be avoided. Furthermore, the provision of community services is already under pressure and plans to cut locum and agency staff, who are relied on to address the pressure of nursing and care shortages in the workforce, is likely to create unsustainable pressure on the system.

"These short-term cuts to community services will further increase the pressure on acute services at a time when we are heading into winter pressures and anticipating a bad flu season. This is not a saving to the public purse nor is it in the best interests of older people for whom a hospital stay can be distressing and where the risk of infection is greater."

Meanwhile, Alliance Health spokesperson Paula Bradshaw MLA has said the quality of care for people cannot be reduced despite the proposed cuts.

She said: "As laid out in the consultation, the cuts across Northern Ireland would have a significant impact on many people, particularly the most vulnerable in our society. They are the result of the failure of the larger parties to form an Executive, having previously failed to provide a budget for the current financial year. That has helped us reach the point where the Trusts have been asked to consider making spending reductions of this nature without being able to pre-plan for them. No party serious about caring for people would now delay in taking responsibility to form an Executive to find a way to avoid these reductions.

"The consultation lays out an inevitable consequence, which is some spending reductions would, if pursued, have a direct impact on people's quality of care and therefore quality of life. While not the fault of the Trusts, that is outrageous and cannot be allowed to happen."

(CD)