<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); line-height: 1.3em; font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
	Six months after getting the all-clear, little Ellie Ward is trapped in hospital due to lack of HSE home-care funds</h2>
<div>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		From opposite ends of the country,&nbsp;<a class="search" href="http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Ade%20Stack&amp;article=true" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none !important;">Ade Stack</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a class="search" href="http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=John%20Ward&amp;article=true" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none !important;">John Ward</a>&nbsp;would probably have never met had their children not ended up on the same ward in Temple Street children&rsquo;s hospital.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		During long months of visiting their children, they forged a friendship in the hospital corridors as they both struggled to get their babies home because of the lack of HSE funding for home care.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		Ade Stack wrote a letter to&nbsp;<em>The Irish Times</em>&nbsp;earlier this month about her son Hugh who died on August 17th when he was just eight months old.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		He was born in the Rotunda and was transferred to Temple Street with complex health problems that were ultimately never diagnosed.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;Hugh was born on December 13th and we kind of knew things weren&rsquo;t right. At 30 weeks he just stopped growing so I was induced at 36 weeks. He had complications from day one and never really got better.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		By February, when it became clear that Hugh was dying, Ade and her husband, Martin, wanted to have him among his family. &ldquo;We just said &lsquo;let&rsquo;s go home&rsquo;.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t hold your child in hospital. I had to lie on the floor with him just so I could hold him because the [safety] bar on the bed doesn&rsquo;t come down.&rdquo;&nbsp;<br />
		<br />
		<strong>Jack and Jill</strong><br />
		After four months of being told Hugh could not be discharged without nursing support, they finally got him home for six precious weeks which Ade described as &ldquo;some of the best of my life&rdquo;.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		They received no HSE home help but the Jack and Jill Foundation stepped in with 10 hours&rsquo; nursing a week, and the couple paid for further nursing hours themselves. She takes out photographs of this time, happy scenes of Hugh at home cradled by his parents and with his older brothers, Theo (3) and Fred (2).</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;He was much happier at home. It meant he could hear his family,&rdquo; says Ade.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;When the boys were having their bath, he loved it because they would scream and he could hear them.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;He slept beside us, he got to enjoy the world . . . that life isn&rsquo;t just full of people who want to take blood and change dressings.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		She describes the relief of being able to turn off the lights when you want, of not having a television constantly on in the background and letting her baby experience normal family life, however briefly.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		While very complimentary of the care in Temple Street, she wishes it had been made easier to take Hugh home.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		She asks why an elderly person who needs support to leave hospital can be approved within six to eight weeks for a home-care package but there was nothing available for her son.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;Why is there such help when you are 65 years old, but not when you are six months old? We did it for the elderly with Fair Deal, but what about the children who unfortunately get a bad deal in life? Who wants to live in hospital? It hurts as parents when you feel you have been robbed of time at home.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		While her family awaits a decision in January next year, a further &euro;50,000 will be spent.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		The HSE said in a statement that its policy is that children should be at home whenever possible and added: &ldquo;There is no question of providing continuing care to children in an acute setting if this is not required.&rdquo;<br />
		<br />
		<strong>Home care less expensive</strong><br />
		It did not dispute that home care is significantly less expensive than hospital care but said, &ldquo;The report did not compare the respective costs of the home-based care provided by the Jack and Jill Foundation with the cost of home-care nursing package provided by the HSE which has an average cost of &euro;23 per hour.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		According to this figure, a home care package of 56 hours of night-nursing a week for Ellie would cost &euro;67,000, still a 50 per cent saving on her current stay in hospital.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		<a class="search" href="http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Mona%20Baker&amp;article=true" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none !important;">Mona Baker</a>, chief executive of Temple Street, said that, in their experience, children with life-limiting conditions do better when they are cared for at home surrounded by parents, grandparents and friends with appropriate care packages in place.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		She said she &ldquo;acknowledges issues regarding lengthy negotiations of home-care packages with the HSE&rdquo;.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		<br />
		&lsquo;Something needs to be done to get children home&rsquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		<br />
		Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe where there is no national paediatric home care budget. If you are elderly and need to be cared for at home, there is a dedicated budget of &euro;130 million available through the Home Care Package Scheme, but there is no equivalent for sick children.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		<a class="search" href="http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?tag_person=Jonathan%20Irwin&amp;article=true" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline: none !important;">Jonathan Irwin</a>, founder of the Jack and Jill Foundation, says the problem has become acute in the&nbsp;past 12 months.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;Now that everything has been pared back to the bone, it has really become apparent that children are suffering because there is no ringfenced budget for them. More and more babies are being trapped in hospital.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		The foundation&rsquo;s funding is revealing, spelling out just how little the Government has given to these families. Since it was set up in 1997, the HSE has given &euro;4.5 million.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		The Irish public has trumped that figure tenfold, digging deep to donate &euro;47 million.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;For us, having Hugh was a very positive experience but we need to start thinking about these children,&rdquo; says Ade Stack, adding that something needs to be done soon about children like John&rsquo;s daughter Ellie who are alive and need to get home.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;Someone said to me it was very soon to be writing a letter to The Irish Times after Hugh but I didn&rsquo;t want to wait.</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		&ldquo;When is the right time to actually do something? We have national budgets for raised bogs and corncrakes in this country but you know what? Children are more important.&rdquo;</p>
	<p class="no_name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1.5em; color: rgb(81, 81, 81); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">
		<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/lack-of-hse-funds-leave-children-trapped-in-acute-hospital-beds-1.1537208?page=3">http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/lack-of-hse-funds-leave-children-trapped-in-acute-hospital-beds-1.1537208?page=</a>1</p>
</div>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
