Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Since time is tight for our group I will come forward with three solutions. Prevention is better than cure, so the first is healthy eating and exercise from the youngest to the oldest commensurate with their abilities. The second is the value of the wisdom of older persons councils and the Age Friendly Ireland programmes. We must listen to the wisdom and cost-effective suggestions of our older citizens, especially in the area of falls, which are high-cost from a hospitalisation point of view. We should increase resourcing of the healthy age friendly homes programme. Third, from the pharmacy task force, the common condition service should be funded and resourced as soon as possible. That would help with older people managing their medicines and with the proper disposal of unwanted medicines. It is the dump campaign. They are some simple interventions that are low-cost with healthcare professionals who are ready to move on them.

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