Mary White (Fianna Fail)

A study has just been published on the quality of life of older people in residential care. Choice, privacy and a sense if identity are some of the requirements of older people living in residential care in order to maintain a good quality of life according to research published in the May issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing. Researchers from the National University of Ireland Galway spoke to 101 older people in long-stay care in private public nursing homes. The key findings include the following. Residents who took part in the research said that choice is important in their daily routine. For example, one resident was permitted to go to bed at any time and another person was woken up at 6 a.m. but did not get breakfast until 8.10 a.m. Residents would like to have choice in when they go to bed and get up. Privacy is also an important issue. Even people with their own rooms found that nursing staff walked into their rooms without knocking on the door. Others felt even more acutely that when they had to share a room they had absolutely no place to which to escape in order to have a little time on their own.