As the Contact Tracing mess continues at some pace with COVID 19 cases asked to inform their friends and close contacts that they have the virus, concern is again expressed by the abject failure of the HSE to return key specialists to work with people with disabilities .
By their own admission that HSE have confirmed that over 850 specialists are working in either contact tracing or swabbing roles . Indeed we have received many calls from these workers asking and pleading to return to their professional occupations .
This will not take place until early 2021 as the HSE HR department works in first gear most of the year and their recruitment processes are a nightmare for most applicants and operational staff within the HSE .
Meanwhile 1000s of people with disabilities have lost out on key supports and assessments during the past 8 months with waiting lists for assessments expanding out to over 4 years in many cases .
The response to these delays from that HSE is typical ” COVID 19 comes first in our priorities sorry but there is nothing we can do for your child “
The withdrawal of day care services on the 11th March by the HSE and the poaching of key day care service staff from day care services organisations by the HSE is a scandal that must be subject of an investigation as the damage caused to these individuals and their families is significant.
Normal Day Care services are not restored as Ireland heads into anther Lockdown and the failure of the Government to step in and managed the HSE on this is telling.
As they HSE struggle to hire contact tracers we now find that they are poaching key staff from both day care services and nursing homes with no regard for the damage this is doing to care users and how this strategy will lead to serious issues in the run up to Christmas up to and including major infection outbreaks in both nursing homes and day care facilities as a result of the loss of experienced staff .
It is imperative that Disability Services is move away from the HSE who have demonstrated that the have little or no regard for service users or their carers and have shown that persons with disabilities come last in the HSE list of priorities .