Results 701-720 of 8,594 for speaker:Seán Crowe

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: The purpose of today's meeting is to engage with representatives from the Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Family Carers Ireland on the health needs of persons with dementia and the services available to them. I am pleased to welcome from the Alzheimer Society of Ireland Mr. Andy Heffernan, chief executive officer, Ms Clodagh Whelan, advocacy manager, and Dr. Laura O'Philbin, research and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I thank Mr. Heffernan. I invite Mr. Dunne to make opening remarks on behalf of Family Carers Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I thank Mr. Dunne very much. I am going to open up the discussion to members. I think someone's mobile phone is ringing on silent, so I ask that it would be turned off as it impacts on the broadcasting system. We will go straight into questions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I thank Ms Whelan. Again, if there is time, we might get a second round of questions in. I want to invite Deputy Pauline Tully, who is substituting for Deputy David Cullinane. She is very welcome to the committee this morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: We have to move on. Deputy Hourigan is next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: Reference has been made to the different approaches of the CHOs and concerns about regional health authorities in that regard. Please come back to us about this matter as the organisations present probably do not have time now. As a committee, we engage all of the time about these issues, particularly the roll-out of the RHAs. If our guests have particular concerns about this area of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: Yes, if we have time. I am going to give a comfort break in about a half an hour. That will take ten minutes off. I will move on to Senator Frances Black next.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: Senator Hoey, who is online, is next. Please confirm that you are in Leinster House.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I will suspend for a five-minute break if that is sufficient for everyone. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I call Deputy Lahart.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: That is a really important point. I am conscious that there is a campaign on dementia led by the HSE and I understand that the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland is also involved. We are hearing those messages on the radio and reading about it in newspapers. It is important to stress that there are different types of dementia. It does not recognise class, creed, colour or financial...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: They also mentioned that one in three of people with dementia did not have it diagnosed. It goes to show the scale of the challenge facing us. I presume the figures here would be similar. We do not really know because we do not have a register. That is something that the committee could follow up on. Based on the figures quoted in 2017, we were talking about 11 people every day being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: The witnesses mentioned the role of alcohol in relation to dementia. I have a friend who discovered wine late in life. For some reason, he was drinking pints for most of his life but he discovered wine late in life. It was the strength of the wine that was the issue. He was told that if he did not cut back on it, the early stages of dementia would get worse and worse. There are all sorts...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I was a little surprised when we asked about respite to hear that people still preferred respite at home. You would imagine, particularly for carers, that it would be life-changing and transforming for them to get a week off, but they do not want to leave.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: It would be remiss of me not to mention St. Brigid's Nursing Home. It is on the edge of three of the members' constituencies, including Deputies Kenny and Durkan. It was burnt during an attack on it at the weekend. It was a centre used for women with dementia. Everyone talked about there being something special about that particular nursing home. Some people thought there was something...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: I call Deputy Tully.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: That is a good note on which to end the meeting. For anyone with a loved one in this situation, it is about where to go next. It is good there is a go-to place for supports and to find out they are not alone. Other people have been through or are going through this. There are different forms of dementia and different approaches. There is reminiscence therapy. We did not mention taste...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: One in three is huge.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Health Needs of Persons with Dementia and the Services Available: Discussion (7 Feb 2024)

Seán Crowe: Before we go back to Ms Whelan's colleagues, I have a question on the lack of parity of esteem of dementia with other illnesses, like cancer and mental health, which were mentioned. Is there any particular reason why it is often left behind?