Respite care shortfall scuppers Marie’s chance for first holiday in over two years

Marie Murtagh, aged 69, from St Patrick’s Terrace, Navan, Co Meath, has been looking after her husband Kevin since he suffered head and other injuries in a car accident two years ago.

Ironically, he had bought the car to celebrate winning a battle against throat cancer.

Marie is now his sole carer and one of the few, she was told, that knows how to use a suction machine to clear her husband’s throat after he underwent a tracheostomy.

She had been looking forward to her first break in two years, which her daughters bought her, but now it looks like the holiday will have to be scrapped unless she can get some kind of help before the flight to Lanzarote today.

“Kevin went through 37 chemo and radium treatments three years ago after finding a lump on his throat and to celebrate he decided to get a car again,” she said.

“He was only in it 10 minutes before he crashed and was treated in the Beaumont Hospital for bad head injuries. It was at that time that he received a tracheostomy.

“He can’t eat, he has to be peg fed, and he can’t swallow his own saliva, hence I have to use a suction machine a number of times a day.

“We were told that there are no respite places available with staff who are qualified to use the machine from which tubing is placed down his throat to extract all the stuff that he can’t swallow or spit out.

“There’s also an inner tube and outer tube for his food that only we can insert, if it dislodges.

“He gets mixed up and frustrated because he can’t really communicate and he can fall easily as his balance is impaired.

“I have to be there 24/7. There’s no-where I can go.”

“My children help out as much as they can but they have their own families to look after. If I go anywhere, he’s looking for me straight away.”

The only help Marie s receives is from Comfort Keepers, who come and wash her husband daily, and a nurse who calls once a fortnight to check the feeding bag in his stomach.

And just as she was preparing this week to go on holiday to Lanzarote, her hopes were dashed again.

“My daughters bought me the holiday for my birthday in August and we started looking for respite then,” she said. “There was talk of respite in Co Down — which I was told was the only suitable place for Kevin.

“I initially turned it down because I had no transport to bring him there but I rang back when we sourced some but was told it was no longer available.

“I was so looking forward to a break, to being me again for a short time. I’m devastated. We’re trying to sort out some family care for him but it’ll be tough for them all.”

“Even the nurse told me once that, if she had to guess, she’d think I was the patient, and then I thought I must really look wretched.

“Sometimes I get panic attacks and get flustered and then I feel so guilty because Kevin can’t help his injuries. I once caught him trying to insert the tube himself using a mirror, in an effort to take the pressure off me.

“Neither of us have any kind of life anymore. It’s like a vicious circle that we can’t get out of.”

In Meath alone, 70 adults with a disability face delays of between three and four years for a respite place, while 30 children in the county are waiting up to a year to access a place, according to figures obtained by local Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín.

“It’s cruel that the waiting times for adult respite services in Meath alone is up to four years,” he said. “We are talking about carers who do sterling work out of love and sacrifice for their family. Looking after someone 24/7 can have a fierce toll on their own physical and mental health.”

Local Sinn Féin councillor Eddie Fennessy said: “What does it say about our health service when Marie is denied respite simply because there are no suitable places for patients with Kevin’s condition. It’s not good enough. End of. The HSE needs to address this shortfall immediately and provide much-needed respite to Marie and others like her.”

The HSE did not respond to a press query.