Trevor Ringland, spokesperson for the NI Conservatives, has highlighted “a crisis in the care system” which he believes the minister, Edwin Poots, must address.
“NI Conservatives agree with the aim of the Transforming Your Care strategy, which is to deliver care for a greater number of older people in their own homes”, Trevor explained. “With that in mind, it is extremely disappointing that many of these critical services are being delivered in an inadequate fashion or are being scaled back.”
“Care workers provide ’15 minute calls’ as the bare minimum for people who need care in their own house. Northern Ireland has the highest percentage of these visits in the UK, which is a damning indictment, because older people deserve a much better, much more comprehensive service, to make care in their own homes viable. If Edwin Poots is serious about moving away from care homes as the first resort and looking to provide care at home, that needs to be addressed.”
“At the moment, while the policy might be sound, the way it is being implemented and a crisis in the care system are undermining the objectives of Transforming Your Care. Edwin Poots must start to deliver on his own strategy, if it is to be taken as a serious attempt to deliver independence for older people and enable them to live in their homes for longer. At the moment people in Northern Ireland are being short-changed by a minister who doesn’t know what’s going on, on the ground.”