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Pringle: Dementia must be in next programme for government
- Updated: 4th February 2020
“We must ensure people with dementia and their families receive the support they need”
Thomas Pringle – 4 Feb 2020
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Independent candidate Thomas Pringle has pledged to deliver on dementia, supporting the call from the Alzheimer Society of Ireland to ensure people with dementia and their families receive the support they need.
“Supporting carers is paramount to empowering people, especially older people, to live within their communities,” Pringle said. “Dementia must be in the next programme for government.”
He said: “I fully support the ‘Deliver on Dementia – Time to End the Crisis’ campaign, including full implementation of the National Dementia Strategy, home care for everybody, and inclusion of dementia in the Chronic Disease Management Programme.
“In my manifesto, ‘For Donegal. For the People’, I call for implementation of the national strategy as well as establishment of a statutory home help service so that everyone has a right to home care.”
Figures from the Alzheimer Society of Ireland show that 1,929 people are living with dementia in Donegal.
“For every person living with dementia in Donegal there are families and loved ones struggling to access supports and services to help with their care,” Pringle said. “Donegal carers provide these crucial services out of love for the person with dementia, and have been let down by successive governments that have neglected to provide them with respite and other assistance that they need.
“There has been a crisis of available respite care for families, carers and service users in Donegal, which must be addressed immediately,” he said. “Extended respite care must be available seven days a week throughout the year for families and service users.
“Support for this crucial assistance will not only allow Donegal people to live with dignity in their communities, but it will acknowledge and value the round-the-clock work carers provide, a service that is also much more cost-effective than placing people in nursing homes.”
He concluded: “Carers should not have to struggle to access supports. Government must put the rights of people first.”
ENDS