A DAY of action was held at RehabCare, Resouce Centre in Blennerville on Friday to highlight and  support the Save RehabCare’s Services nationwide campaign.

A number of candidates running in the Tralee Local Electoral area were in attendance with staff and service users to show their support for RehabCare on Friday morning.

RehabCare, is a part of Rehab Group and provides day, respite, residential and home care services to 3,000 people nationwide with disabilities and their families every year. 1,500 staff provide supports which are delivered in partnership with and funded by the HSE.

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RehabCare is currently in grave financial difficulty and urgent funding of €2 million is needed. For a number of years now, the money RehabCare has received from the HSE hasn’t been enough to fully cover the services that they provide. Rehab Group has been making up for this lack of funding from its own reserves which are now nearly fully depleted.

RehabCare’s deficits have arisen primarily due to the new and unfunded costs of regulation, significantly increased insurance costs as well as losses which arise as a result of health and social care services taken on by RehabCare on behalf of the HSE during the recession.