Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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11. To ask the Minister for Health for an update on the implementation of the national dementia strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36661/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The national dementia strategy was launched in December 2014. It delivers on a commitment in the programme for Government to develop a national Alzheimer's and other dementias strategy to increase awareness, ensure early diagnosis and intervention and develop enhanced community-based services.

The Department of Health and the HSE have agreed a joint initiative with Atlantic Philanthropies to implement significant elements of the strategy over the 2014-17 period. This implementation programme represents a combined investment of €27.5 million, with Atlantic Philanthropies contributing €12 million and the HSE €15.5 million. Key elements of the initiative include the roll-out of a programme of intensive home supports and home care packages for people with dementia, valued at €22 million over a three-year period; the provision of an additional dementia-specific resource, valued at €1.2 million, for general practitioners, GPs, to include training materials and guidance on local services and contact points; and measures to raise public awareness, address stigma and promote the inclusion and involvement in society of those with dementia, valued at €2.7 million.

A national office for dementia, which was the key request from Atlantic Philanthropies, has been established within the HSE to co-ordinate the implementation of the strategy. Up to 500 people with dementia and their families are expected to benefit from intensive home care packages over the lifetime of the implementation programme. Work on the design of a programme of education and training in dementia care for primary care teams and GPs has commenced and is being led, the Deputy will be glad to hear, from UCC in conjunction with DCU and the Irish College of General Practitioners, ICGP. Work has also begun on a dementia awareness campaign, entitled "Dementia Friendly Ireland", which is being led by the HSE's health and well-being division. A monitoring group, chaired by the Department of Health, has been established to assist with and advise on implementation of the national dementia strategy. This group includes health professionals, administrators, researchers and advocates. It also includes someone living with dementia and a representative of those who care for people with dementia. It is an extensive programme.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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We welcome everything that has been done, but if one considered the demographics and the projected trends in Alzheimer's and dementia, one would see a trebling in the incidence of both in just a generation. That will be a major demand on resources. Even in the context of the national dementia strategy, I do not believe that enough planning is being done to provide the resources that will be required. We know what will be necessary in the years ahead, given the increasing prevalence.

Intensive home care packages represent a key issue. Atlantic Philanthropies is involved in their funding, but we need to put in place proper systems with seamless supports in the community. We discuss primary care and community care, but families do not have the supports that they deserve. We should start being imaginative in the strategy as regards how we care for Alzheimer's or dementia sufferers in a community or home care setting.

That involves community-based services and voluntary organisations all coming together to deal with what will be an avalanche. If we do not have the resources in place, we will deny very many people basic dignity.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I agree with the Deputy. Planning, including evidence-based planning, and research are key to all of this. The combination of both the delivery of services within communities and research will give us the tools we will need to deliver what is essential. The Alzheimer Society of Ireland was the key driver in all of this and the conduit between Atlantic Philanthropies and the Government in terms of how we would put this package in place. It delivers an incredible service to its clients on behalf of the Government. Everyone I know who has used it raves about it. I agree that we need to know what is coming down the track and what we will need to ensure people can stay increasingly within their own communities. We should be glad that the leading clinician in all of this is Dr. Tony Foley from Kinsale. He is leading the whole project in terms of the community-based delivery of services for those with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. We are well on the way to knowing what we will need in the future.

Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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One way of showing a continuing commitment would be increase the number of intensive home care packages for 2016 in the context of the HSE service plan. We know from all the empirical evidence and the collation of data that the prevalence of the conditions will increase dramatically in the years ahead. By any stretch of the imagination, we do not have the supports or infrastructure in place to deal with them currently. There needs to be a ramping up of investment to meet the demands outlined in the national dementia strategy. I am reluctant to applaud until we see some firm commitments in the HSE's service plan, for example, in the area of intensive home care packages, and a broadening of community-based supports in conjunction with the primary care strategy.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I do not believe we are disagreeing but that we need to be cautious about ensuring what we are doing and proposing are actually working. That is essential. What we are doing right now is working but it needs to be bedded in. We need to be absolutely certain that this is what we need and that it is where we need it. That is essential.

Having come through the process in which it was said there would be a pensions time bomb and that all would be doom and gloom, I believe conditions change based on research. Both the numbers and direction in which one goes can be changed. I am very hopeful because I know research in this area is very active. From time to time, I see signs of breakthroughs that are very encouraging. There is a need for a combination of approaches rather than a single pathway.