Elderly Father Left in Crisis as Home Care Package Ends
An 84-year-old father in Northern Ireland is facing 'awful stress' as his sons' vital social care package is withdrawn due to staffing shortages.
A Growing Crisis in Rural Care
LOUGHGILLY, Northern Ireland, At 84 years old, Alphie Lonergan should be enjoying his retirement. Instead, he faces a desperate daily struggle to care for his two adult sons, Ronan and Donall. Both men, now in their 40s, live with severe learning disabilities. Donall also has autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
The family’s situation reached a breaking point this week. After years of support, the care package provided by the local health trust is scheduled to end this Friday, leaving Mr. Lonergan as the sole provider of intensive daily care.
"Thank God I’m in good shape physically," Mr. Lonergan told the BBC. "But mentally, I’m under awful, awful stress."
The Burden of Care
The support system for the Lonergan family has been eroding for months. Originally, the Southern Health Trust provided a three-hour daily care package to assist both sons. In March 2024, support for Ronan was withdrawn. Until now, a carer still visited for one hour each morning to help Donall get dressed, a process complicated by his OCD, which requires him to brush his teeth three times and check his shoelaces six times before leaving his room.
"Donall doesn’t get up until the carer arrives," Mr. Lonergan explained. "You can’t lift a boy in his 40s out of bed and get him on his feet if he doesn’t want to do it."
LOUGHGILLY, Northern Ireland , At 84 years old, Alphie Lonergan should be enjoying his retirement.
The 84-year-old also manages Donall’s nocturnal habits; the younger man often paces the house until the early hours, leaving his father unable to "switch off" or sleep soundly. While his two daughters provide as much help as they can, they are balancing their own families and careers.
A Systemic Staffing Failure
The Southern Health Trust has apologized for the distress caused but maintains that its hands are tied by a critical shortage of social care workers, particularly in rural areas like Loughgilly.
In a statement, the Trust noted it has attempted to review rotas and request staff from other regions to cover the area, but these efforts have yielded no volunteers.
The recruitment crisis is exacerbated by recent pay disputes. In November, it was revealed that while doctors and nurses received a pay offer to avert industrial action, homecare workers in the independent sector were excluded, further disincentivizing the profession.
The Unseen Army of Unpaid Carers
The Lonergans are not alone. According to the 2021 Northern Ireland Census:
- Approximately 222,000 residents (12% of the population) provide unpaid care.
- About 70,000 individuals provide more than 50 hours of unpaid care per week, a sharp rise from 56,000 in 2011.
- Residents aged 45-64 bear the heaviest burden, but there are also roughly 3,000 child carers under the age of 15.
For Alphie Lonergan, the motivation to keep going is deeply personal. He recalls the final words of his late wife: "I’m sorry about this Alphie, look after the children."
"That’s something I’ll definitely do," he says. But without professional intervention, the weight of that promise is becoming nearly impossible to bear.
