Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy in that one does not want a situation in which somebody might only be up for six hours per day. However, we face challenges because many people who deliver home care work split shifts and wish to go home in the evening. I often hear from families that they do not wish for their mother or father to be put to bed at 6 p.m., but in fairness, the home care worker has probably already worked in the morning and the evening. We are looking at work-life balance.

The integrated care programmes for older people, ICPOP, teams have made a considerable impact. We have 22 of them up and running and we have to get to 30. They are fantastic. It is like a one-stop shop for older people. When an older person presents to the ICPOP team, they will look at everything. They will look at the person's frailty and check whether he or she is at risk of falls or stroke. I was delighted to provide the funding to the psychiatry of later life team earlier this year. It is not included in the ICPOP teams. I secured the funding to put three pilots in place because an older person being able to present at one particular facility and have all their care needs met and analysed, as against having to go across the road to a psychiatric facility to get a piece of what they need, will help to take the stigma out of psychiatry of later life.