Figures from the HSE’s own Performance Monitoring Report (PMR) for January have shown in the first four weeks of the year 186 fewer elderly people received home help packages than had been planned and thousands more had their hours cut.

The HSE cut home help hours available in its most recent Service Plan from 1,019,883 hours in January 2008 to 998,300 hours during the same period this year.

However, despite the target dropping by 21,583 hours over the 12-month period, the latest PMR confirmed the actual hours of home help provided were just 997,138 in January — representing a real reduction of 22,745 in the last year alone.

During the first month of 2009, the HSE’s figures have confirmed that 54,314 older people benefited from home help services, 186 less than planned.

The PMR confirmed all HSE regions came in under their targets for the number of hours provided in the scheme, indicating that elderly people in need of home care are failing to receive the support.

"What we are hearing on a daily basis is that this is getting worse, that home help packages are running out," said Age Action Ireland spokesman Eamon Timmins.

"Home help is an essential part of the care of older people and it keeps them out of the acute setting, which is the more expensive area.

"We would be concerned that in the next 12 to 24 months what we will see is a raiding of home help for funding for other areas, but that could become a real problem because one-in-five older people do need some help if they are to live at home.

"We have heard of cases in recent months were people in dire need aren’t receiving the services.

"One 94-year-old woman before Christmas was put on a three-year waiting list for home help. Realistically, at 94 she’s not going to receive that help and it is a serious cause of concern," said Mr Timmins.