moving to ireland with child with severe cerebral palsy

beezneez

Hi,
We're an Irish family who live on the continent and have 3 boys with our eldest (10) having very severe cerebral palsy with profound physical and mental disabilities.
There was a very serious negligence at birth by both the hospital and doctors and we recently won a case against them both. The settlement is now in negotiation but will be nothing like the amount in settlements in Ireland for similar cases that we've seen.
We have always wanted to return to Ireland for the moral support that our families, friends and indeed the irish people themselves. Here in our part of the continent our experience is that children and indeed adults with profound disabilities are to be hidden away and not seen in public. The reaction we get when we even go out for a walk is incredibly rude. People can literally stop and stare. Whilst this happens too in Ireland, its much less frequent as our many trips home have proven. People in Ireland are much warmer and less nosey.
We've watched the craziness of the celtic tiger which priced us out of any eventual move back home. now we are finally in a better position financially and the country is screwed!
My question,( and i'd really appreciate a response from someone really in the know) we know the health services are nothing like what we are used to (we pay for nothing, zero) and we accept that we'll pay for every little visit, every drug, etc but are unsure if money is really going to allow us to return home to the support of our family?
Is our son still going to be left on trolleys in emergencies? will he still have problems getting appointments with neurologists etc?
I dont agree with the two tier medical system but if it means we can go home by paying for our services we'll do it.

Whats your thoughts?

cynder

You cant be guaranteed anything until you actual make the move.

He will probably be eligible for a medical card. There is DCA and Careers allowance, careers allowance is means tested, DCA is not. As for physio therapy and educational needs i have no idea.

Once he is in the system things start to move, you well may have to wait for him to see a neurologists, how long who knows. As for him being left on a trolley in the emergency unit, who know what is going to happen from day to day and hospital to hospital. I doubt very much that he would be left on a trolley in the corridor.

Do you have an area in mind where you want to move to?

Public health nurses are full of information as is the citizens advice. If you have an area in mind contact either of those and see if they can give you any info.


Best of luck.

FluffyCat

Well he can get an LTI book and all drugs related to his condition will be free.

Neurologists are few and far between in Ireland but an announcement was made in November for the appointment of 13 more consultants.

Also try to get into st vincents for neurology. They have recently re-jigged everything and waiting times there and much shorter than elsewhere in the country

fergal.b

Hi my son is 9 and very much like yours, for A&E we attend temple street hospital where he is seen very quickly most of the time, the outpatient clinic can be a bit of a wait, 2 hours sometimes. He attends school in St. Michael's house Baldoyle where his doctor sees him quite a bit and he is very well looked after, they also pick him up in the morning and drop him home after school.
I can only say good things about St. michael's house and I would be lost without them.
He has a medical card so I only pay 50 cent for each script.

Hope this helps a bit.:)

beezneez

Thanks everyone, we hope to move to cork and are looking into schools now.