Member's statement: Domiciliary Care: Western Trust
Member's statement by Miss Jemma Dolan on .
- MLA
- Miss Jemma Dolan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 20 October 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Domiciliary Care: Western Trust
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5188246
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I take this opportunity to highlight the serious and growing pressures on domiciliary care services in the Western Health and Social Care Trust area, particularly in Fermanagh. Every week, families contact my office about the difficulties in securing home care packages. Demand for domiciliary care is increasing as our population ages and people live longer with complex health needs, yet the Western Trust is facing a severe shortage of carers, which is having a direct impact on those who are most in need of support in their own homes. We now have long waiting lists for care packages, and many hospital discharges are being delayed simply because care is not available in the community. Older people are waiting weeks — sometimes months — for the support that they need to live safely and with dignity in their own homes. At the heart of the problem is a shortage of domiciliary carers. The Western Trust and independent providers are struggling to recruit and retain staff, and those who remain are working under huge pressure, travelling long distances, covering extra calls and often working beyond their contracted hours out of sheer compassion for their clients. Those carers are doing incredible work under immense strain. They deserve far better. If we are serious about tackling the crisis, we must properly value and support our care workforce. That means fair pay and conditions, paying for travel time and mileage, and offering secure contracts rather than zero-hours ones. It also means creating clear career pathways, providing opportunities for training and progression, and investing in carers' well-being. The new carers' support hub in the Fermanagh and Omagh area is a positive and welcome development, but that must be part of a wider strategy: one that promotes the role of carers, invests in their well-being and makes domiciliary care a valued and sustainable career choice. Above all, carers must be recognised as the vital professionals that they are: the backbone of our health and social care system. By investing in them, we can ensure that older and vulnerable people in Fermanagh and across the Western Trust area receive the dignified care that they deserve and can remain in their own homes, surrounded by their community, for as long as possible.
373 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.63 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.27 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.08 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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