ALONE's concern over Home Care scheme

ALONE, the charity which supports older people to age at home, is calling for increased funding and improvements in the provision of Home Care services across Ireland. The charity is advocating for funding for this vital service to be linked to demand to ensure that any older person in need of home care can access the support they need.

 

ALONE believe that the current state of home care provision is contributing to increased vulnerability and challenges for older people, their families and home care workers. The charity is asking for a funding review ahead of Budget 2020 in order to best support older people as they age, as well as the overstretched staff who deliver these supports.

 

ALONE is concerned that much of the demand for home help is invisible on paper as some regions without the resources required do not keep waiting lists, and their need goes unrecognised. In many cases throughout Ireland, older people must already be in acute hospital in order to receive home care. As well as this, staff delivering home care are under significant time pressure and underpaid.

 

Seán Moynihan, CEO of ALONE, said, “The CHO waiting lists for the end of September 2018 indicated that 6,423 people were waiting for home support funding, and it is likely that many more people were not recorded. We are urging Government to take levels of demand into consideration in Budget 2020. While it is not news to us that new packages are not being made available at the moment, the Government, along with the public, must understand that these issues are hugely affecting older people on an individual level. Currently even those people who are receiving home care are experiencing gaps in service provision as currently the service only covers personal and medical care.”