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MORE THAN 150 people in Dublin were recorded as being without secure accommodation for the night during the latest rough sleeper count by the Council-run Dublin Region Homeless Executive on 30 November.
Of that figure, 91 were sleeping rough and a further 61 made use of the Merchant’s Quay Night Café – a service which gives people who fail to secure a bed in emergency accommodation a place to go.
Perhaps an even more eye-opening figure is the number who were bedding down for the night in emergency accommodation: 3,766 beds were occupied on the night of this year’s count, up from 2,197 in 2014, marking almost a 60% increase in just a year.
Recent national figures showed almost 2,500 adults without children are now homeless across the State, along with 1,571 children, and 980 parents.
Many charities and organisations will be going the extra mile to make sure people who find themselves homeless this Christmas have a warm meal to eat and a bed for the night.
With that in mind, we asked some of them for practical suggestions on how to help people who are homeless over the next few weeks – and into next year.
From treating people with empathy when they approach you in the street, to an array of different ways to give cash and other items – here’s what they came back with:
Give respect
Treat homeless people you see with respect, and ask if you can provide them with food and/or a hot drink.
Fill out a direct debit
Local SVP Conferences are working to support families that are in hotels and B&Bs for Christmas including arranging for Santa to call to the children. They are also working to keep people in their rented accommodation every week of the year. SVP also provides around 300 beds in its emergency homeless services throughout the country. You can find details of how to complete a direct debit here.
Help keep families in accommodation over Christmas
Call on local authorities and hotel owners to promise security of stay for families in emergency accommodation in hotels and B&Bs until at least 31 January and lobby your public representatives to push for more urgent action to reduce homelessness.
If you are a landlord, think twice before you increase the rent.
Donate old clothes
Let go of those once loved clothes to raise cash for Focus Ireland. The charity’s ‘Beloved’ shops sell brand new and once-loved high quality women’s and children’s clothing and accessories along with gifts and homewares. Post-Christmas, you’ll know where to donate your unwanted gifts. You can drop off items in store at one of the three locations here or your local Parcel Motel will deliver them for free!
Buy a stocking filler
Buy the High Hopes Choir & Christy Moore’s single as a stocking filler: You can download a special edition EP of The High Hopes Choir joined by the legend, Christy Moore. Together they bring you a unique version of ‘Fairytale of New York’ and ‘Quiet Desperation’. Download it at iTunes/Spotify/Google Play etc. for only €2.49. All proceeds go to the SVP, Penny Dinners and Focus Ireland.
Let charities know if you see someone sleeping rough
Please help us to assist people who are sleeping rough by letting us know where they are located. Focus Ireland runs the Housing First Intake Team with the Peter McVerry Trust, and staff are out on the street every day and night to support people and get them in off the streets. Contact the team here.
Lobby the government
NAMA will build 20,000 new homes over the coming years. However, even though over 800 families are homeless today, these houses are for the private market and not for social housing tenants. Focus Ireland are asking people to email the Minister for Finance and copy the letter to their constituency TDs, calling on the Government to reconsider its decision and direct NAMA to deliver much-needed social housing instead. Add your voice at www.focusireland.ie
Raise money with family and friends
Hold your own fundraiser from bake sales to sponsored cycles. For information on how to get involved check here.
Buy a Simon Star
Give a meaningful gift this Christmas and buy a Simon Star for a loved one instead of a traditional gift. Options from €10 are available. One of €50 will provide a person with a place to call home, food and the joy of receiving a Christmas gift from under the tree.
Put together a care package
Make a Simon care pack of practical items that could be used by people who are homeless this Christmas (see above).
Show empathy
Try to understand what the person might be going through and how hard that could be for them. For change to occur, it is important that a person feels valued, has their dignity, and is shown respect. If you have empathy for people in this situation, try to influence your loved ones and others to think more humanely about people who are on the streets.
Connect
Acknowledge people through a smile, a nod or a quick hello – loneliness and isolation only compounds a person’s mental health and addiction problems. Say hello, but also understand that people don’t always want to share their story. Respect people’s privacy as you would wish them to respect yours.
Give
Donate to a charity like Ana Liffey Drug Project that works with people experiencing homelessness, addiction and mental health problems. The Charities Regulatory Authority maintain a register of charities which provides information to the public, and where you can find relevant information on services provided.
Make it an election issue
Call on your elected representatives to ensure that practical, relevant services (such as those who can work with mental health and addiction) form part of their parties’ manifestos for the coming general election.
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Liam Woods said when this morning’s hospital figures are released, they will likely show that “the system remains under very significant pressure”.
The bank accounts of the thousands of managers, directors and executives who contribute nothing to the HSE are not under pressure though. Clear out the whole organisation and start again.
@David Corrigan: disband the HSE. Go back to the way it was. Regional Health boards. It wasnt broken until they rebranded it with HSE. Clean out the top earners_ managers. Bring in performance contracts for these guys. Dont do your job! then get lost and of course with no big hand shake.
@Dave Barrett: 100% spot on Dave.
@Dave Barrett: I get the feeling the HSE is only a veneer over the health boards. I moved from the Southeast to the Northwest and my long term illness drug list had to be reassessed by HSE Northwest (old NW health board) although it was fine for HSE Southeast(old SE health board)
The Big black hole which is our health service is starting to collapse. Bad management, over paid consultants and admin staff wouldn’t last 5 minutes in a real job in the real world. Stop exporting our 5000 trained nurses that we tax payers educate each year. Give them the contracts they deserve. Stop importing foreign nursing staff etc. The whole hse is a shambles
@The Equalizer: our own educated nurses are gone a long time and still going
Without the “foreign nurses” we will not and would not have survived.
Respect what we have and listen to what’s wrong at the front line
@The Equalizer: you haven’t a clue. Every nurse in the HSE foreign national or not is needed and welcome. I’m a dept manager and earn less that 45k pa..far from over paid and I work damn hard every week for my money as do all the department heads at my location . We are sick of being run down in the media when we do our best every day to make sure service support is in place to make sure the hospitals run. Easy target running down the people that run the hospitals. You miss out on the people who owe their lives to the consultants in hospitals. Yes the system needs addressing at executive level but the boots on the ground are the people who keep it functioning day in day out despite the adversity of people like you
@Paul Murphy: Where is all the money being wasted within the HSE Paul?
@Paul Murphy: earn less than 45k PA? Well overpaid..
@David Corrigan: we currently have a health system that has capacity for 2.5 million people and not almost 5 million. The money is going to the private sector to shore up the shortfall. The minister says he is increasing capacity which in reality means putting up extra beds in already packed wards with no extra staff to care for them. The health services are in chaos .
@HuffnPuff: The whole thing seems to be collapsing now.
@David Corrigan: HSE pay top dollar for everything they buy in they should be using their buying power to reduce costs such as supermarket chains. Ridiculous employment contracts with 39 hour contracts being the standard. Waste of money at corporare level with new initiatives every month but how many last longer than the ink drying on the paper. Old buildings costing millions to keep going when they should be sold off and the cash reinvested. There are some really progressive people who are being hamstrung by people above them who won’t move beyond the comfort zone.
..and let’s not mention legal settlements which come directly from hospital budgets
@David Corrigan: it has collapsed but they can’t admit that. Staff are literally haemorrhaging out of the HSE.
@David Corrigan: it has collapsed but they can’t admit that now. Staff are literally running out of the HSE, experienced staff with great skills who just can’t stick it anymore.
@Patti o furniture: Try managing 60 people in two departments in a 300 bed hospital with 1500 people employed..I’m sure your well up for it
@Paul Murphy: It’s frightening to think about all that waste within an organisation. Most of those clowns in the higher ranks wouldn’t hold down a job in a sweet shop. I know of a man who got promoted to a high level within the prison service and the man can’t read or write. It is not what you know. It is who you know in this hell hole.
@Patti o furniture: Why is 45 K overpaid?
@David Corrigan: its endemic in all state sectors because no one is seen to be picking up the tab. Public finances are,a bottomless pit
@Paul Murphy: 45 k nice earner. Try earning that working for yourself. You are all delusional. Consultants earn 250 k for a 30 hour week plus all their side money too from private health care.
@The Equalizer: I invite to try my job at that pay grade and feel valued…
@Paul Murphy: who are these 60 people that you are managing? Just out of interest.
@Robin Pickering: porters and security
@Paul Murphy: but they aren’t running…. they are in disarray. Hospitals are frightening places. How is that right? You cannot defend the indefensible. Figures do not lie. Every person residing in this country has a horror story regarding hospital experience. The HSE is inept. My advice to you? Try harder. 2 years ago my daughter was admitted for suspected viral meningitis. She finally got a bed in UHL after 4 days on a trolley in a corridor. It took NINE hours to move her into her bed….. because there was no one available to clean and dress the bed? I offered to dress it myself but was told that’s a breach of protocol lol
Very sad to watch the news last night and to listen to that nurse who cried because of the over crowding in A&E departments. I know the health port folio is not an easy one and never has been but Simon you need to get a grip. People are dying, old people left on trolleys. Its nearly at a point where the whole system will collapse. Money can be found for nearly everything else at a moments notice. Put it where it is needed. Its embarrassing to listen to this day after day.
Know a lot of staff working in the CUH who will not get the flu vaccine, madness
THE HSE SHOULD BE DISBANDED NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE
@Marianne: It still will have to cope with the same level of medical needs, require the same administration and get the same money. You could end up in the same place.
Does this happen in any other Country I wonder? The whole health service shut down over the flu that arrives the same every year? I don’t see it plastered over the BBC or ITV that hospitals are asking people to stay away because of the flu
@David Garland: Yes, it happens all over the world, drama queens like youself claiming the whole health service has shut down, which is patently untrue. All that’s happening is the HSE is asking people not to turn up at an A&E if you have the flu. If you are seriously worried about yourself or a relative your GP should be your first port of call. Failing that, call the ambulance service. Crews are trained well enough to be able to determine if you need hospital treatment. It’s common sense stuff. If you have flu but are well enough to walk through the A&E doors, then you should not be there !! The fact you feel like shlte is neither an accident nor an emergency.
@Tommy Roche: “Drama Queen” Tell that you the Children in Crumlin who had to miss out on Chemotherapy before Christmas because the flu shut down that hospital
@David Garland: and if the children had attended the hospital with a flu out break on going it could have killed them. That’s risk management and a good call
@Paul Murphy: You think Chemotherapy is cancelled at every flu outbreak? Chemotherapy was cancelled because the hospital couldn’t cope and had no beds for the cancer patients.. It’s not a good call to cancer chemotherapy.. Goes to show what you know
@David Garland: Do you work in a hospital that provides oncology services.
.cos I do and know what is told to people. I know the facts of day to day running of services first hand. Oncology patients are first to be considered in such instances and Oncology facilities are isolated from normal activities for such events. Transmission based precautions are a priority to patients in receipt of chemotherapy as their immune system is already compromised.
HSE : stay away from hospitals if you are sick….u might infect the middle management and H&S staff.
@Paul Whitehead: Staff are already snuffling and sneezing, they’re very generous that way..
If they decentralised the HSE, with more clinics around the country and Hospitals reserved for major issues, this would be less of a problem.
@Stephen Ramsey: they do have clinics around the country but they are over crowded with people on waiting lists for services! Obviously you have never been in one, I was in one before christmas waiting to see a consultant with a special needs person for 4 hours. It’s the same everytime we go to an appointment and I can assure you its no joke waiting for 4 hours at a time with a special needs person.
@Stephen Ramsey: No it wouldn’t work as the larger more central areas suck in all the funding and prime people as people on the career ladder NCHDs and the like want to be wise to the major centres where the learning is to be had
How many people showing up with flu did not get the flu vaccination ?
Prevention is better than cure.
A bit of root cause analysis would be good rather than just the usual political footballing.
@Nioe: It actually doesn’t matter how many got the vaccine or not as they are treated the same once through the door. As the vaccine is voluntary there is no way of knowing as there is no link between the GPs and Pharmacies providing the vaccine and the hospitals. Hospitals are not the places to provide vaccinations. People need to stop using Hospitals like GP surgeries just because they can’t get instant access to their GP.
People should stop racking their brains on how to solve the health crisis because is obvious the governments over the years do not want a resolution.
The ED is a tap to feed patients into the main hospital. They can can turn on and off this tap as they want to control costs.
The solution is there if they want it, that’s more hospitals and more staff.
Unfortunately the work practices in the public health system are so archaic and inefficient that the the costs of doing this would be astronomical. We already pay more into the health system than most EU countries but have a much worse service provided.
The politicians are happy to muddle along and wring their hands about how bad the system is every year for as far as I can remember.
However private hospitals work very well they have to.
@John Legat: If ED s were used as the name suggests we wouldn’t have half the problem..at the other end the sites we have chosen to retain hospitals don’t allow for the expansion and growth we need. Capital budgets need to be ring fenced and facilities up headed. No one is talking of the impending crises where Hiqa will refuse to license existing facilities because of the nature of the layout and accommodation and all in the near future but yet older hospitals are not being upgraded while the new children’s hospital sucks the life out of budgets
@Paul Murphy: this whole problem with A&E as it was called then and ED now started in the 1980’s. Then as a result of FF nearly bankrupting the country again there was a severe recession and huge unemployment and emigration.
One of the measures introduced was the closure of many hospitals with ED departments. There was in Dublin, Baggot Street hospital, Dr Stephens hospital, Sir Patrick Dunn’s, Adelaide hospital all closed with others around the country. There has never been a recovery from that and the population now has increased to just 5 million.
There wasn’t a problem before all these hospitals were closed.
Soooo, the flu vaccination is not effective?
@John Tierney: The uptake of the flu is not as high as it could be and a lot of people are not able to have it because of pre existing conditions. Flu us air borne and there fore unlike norovirus is very difficult to prevent transmission. Visiting bans are a last resort and are there to protect the patient and at least attempt to minimize the transmission. You may visit the hospital not suffering from flu but can be a carrier and infect a compromised patient. Thus is where people fail to understand their part in the cycle
@Paul Murphy: HSE spokesman? You seem to be.
@John Tierney: No just pissed off with people attacking the people I work with and painting us to be part of the problem. People in hospitals work damn hard to try make life for better. Bad enough having the upper echelons not knowing what goes on in hospitals when you have the public shouting about what we do and don’t do
Spent 9 hours in Tralee General on the 27th of Dec and then 16 hours the following day after ringing an ambulance. It was totally chaotic with people. There were only 2 doctor’s available on Saturday. That is simply not good enough. The HSE is simply not fit for purpose. More beds is not a solution. Education of people in what is termed an emergency is one.
The HSE cause the flu numbers to be high with their stupid advice for EVERYONE TO GET VACINE…only people at risk should hv it..
have your say