A 65-YEAR-OLD Donegal man with multiple sclerosis has complained he got a phone call out of the blue from the Health Service Executive (HSE) to say his home help hours were being cut from six hours a week to two hours a week and from seven days a week to two days a week.
John Riordan, who lives alone and is confined to a wheelchair, says the cut came into effect this week, within days of the phone call, giving him no time to adapt and with no opportunity at all to appeal.
"Nobody with a disability who is sitting on a wheelchair should get a phone call like I got on October 20th. It must be in writing with a timespan to appeal.
"If I don't get home support I will die. If I fall out of my wheelchair in the dark getting logs for the fire, I could be lying there for three or four days and die," he said.
And if not dead he might have to be admitted to hospital to recuperate. "It would be much cheaper for the health service to provide the home help service for a year than keep me for a week in hospital."
He has told local gardaí that if he is found dead as a result of being left unaided for days as a consequence of the HSE's actions to conduct an investigation into how he was treated.
Mr Riordan, a former teacher who lives near Buncrana, was diagnosed with MS in 1981 and has been benefiting from home help services for the past three years.
The home help personnel would usually help put out his ashes, put down a fire, bring him messages and help with meals.
He said he has been unable to ascertain why precisely his home help hours were cut. He was reassessed for the service some weeks ago on reaching his 65th birthday and there was some suggestion he no longer needed as much help.
However, he says that MS does not improve with age and it could not possibly be the case that he no longer needs the same amount of assistance.
He believes it is more likely the cut was as a result of some mistake, or as a result of a wider plan by the HSE to cut services to stay within budget.
"Is this a co-ordinated plan to attack what they imagine is the vulnerable or a genuine error? I don't know."
The HSE when asked to respond to his predicament said in a statement that it does not comment on individual cases.
However, it said that in general terms the HSE "routinely reviews appropriate services in order to ensure service demands and delivery are met within available resources. Service reviews are a recognised and valuable part of good service delivery and management.
"On completion of review, adjustments can be made where current levels of service delivery are deemed no longer necessary."
It also said the HSE has provided 52,162 hours of home support service in Donegal for the month ending September 30th, 2008, but it didn't comment on whether or not it had been cutting back on home help hours due to budgetary constraints.