Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is not just about challenging behaviours. The provision of good care for people with dementia is about providing a more proactive, socially focused form of care. Such provision is necessarily more expensive because it requires more day-to-day attention than in the case of somebody with a long-term illness who may be bedridden for a long period. It is not just about challenging behaviours or complexity. How is the HSE anticipating the cost of caring for people with dementia in residential care and why can that specific cost not be distinguished? Some residential care centres are devoted to dementia patients. Why can a distinction not be made as to the particular costs associated with the provision of dementia care?