An organisation supporting survivors of brain injury is seeking €4 million in funding in Budget 2023 to move young people out of inappropriate placement in nursing homes.
Acquired Brain Injury Ireland (ABII) said the funding could help its organisation, along with the HSE, to support 90 people on a rehabilitation pathway towards living independently in the community.
Its pre-budget submission, announced on Monday, ABII said the allocation could allow them establish three national teams to assess the needs of those under 65 inappropriately living in nursing homes across the country, set out a pathway to support people to move back to community living, and prevent future admissions.
ABII chief executive Barbara O’Connell said the organisation has the expertise to deliver this move.
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“More than 60 per cent of the brain injury survivors in ABII’s assisted living houses have come from nursing homes, and 50 per cent of all residents in our services ultimately return to live independently. With funding we can provide this same pathway for more people,” she said.
It is now more than a year since an investigation by Ombudsman Peter Tyndall found that there were more than 1,300 people under the age of 65 living in nursing homes.
Mr Tyndall criticised the “inappropriateness of them as accommodation for younger people with a disability” and said most people he spoke with during the investigation wanted to live at home but their wishes were not being granted.
“Every day spent in a nursing home is one more day wasted in the life of a young person. We are calling on the Government to start a response and invest in our brain injury survivors so that they can experience the freedoms they’re entitled to and live the lives they deserve,” Ms O’Connell said.
Former nursing home resident Brian Hogan, a brain injury survivor who lives in ABII’s assisted living house in Clarecastle said rehabilitation allowed him to “see a future for [himself] again”.
“From a nursing home to a rehabilitation house, there’s no comparison. They are two completely different things. At ABII, they teach you how to get your independence back. You’re not just withering away, somewhere you don’t belong,” he said.
“When you lose your independence through injury, that’s heartbreaking, but to win it back again is liberating.”
