Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this Commencement matter.

Ireland's population is ageing rapidly, with advances in health care leading to a dramatic rise in the older population.As the Senator mentioned, in the next 20 years the number of people over 65 will double and the number of people in their 80s will treble. While that is obviously very positive, it brings its challenges. These demographic changes will have significant social and economic implications. Demand for community services is rising as more people are supported at home rather than in hospitals or nursing homes.

The challenges arising from population ageing can be met if we plan effectively and necessary adjustments are made over time to our services. We need to ensure that levels of service are sufficient to meet the growing needs, that they are co-ordinated and integrated effectively, and that the preferences of our older people are at the heart of this process.

Significant additional resources were provided to older persons services in 2015 and two weeks ago we provided €40 million in additional funding to support home care services, and to develop short stay and transitional care beds. There will, however, always be a cohort of older people who require a quality long-term residential care option. This must continue to be available to anyone who needs it, and therefore we will ensure that the nursing homes support scheme is funded to a level whereby successful applicants do not wait more than four weeks for funding.

Most older people want to stay in their own homes for as long as they can. It is widely accepted, not just within the Department and the HSE but also among advocacy groups, that people live happier, longer and healthier lives when they live in their communities and when they contribute to their communities. Home care services are a key element of how we can support them to do that.

The Programme for a Partnership Government is committed to supporting, on a multiannual basis, the development of home care services. We are now supporting more people at home with more complex needs than would have been possible in the past. The more of this we can achieve, the more and better the options that we can offer to older people.

The integrated care programme for older people which is currently being established and implemented across four pilot sites, inclusive of community health-care organisations and hospital groups, will bring a focus to the clinical requirements of the small but ever increasing number of older people who have complex care needs and who are at risk of admission to hospital emergency departments in an unscheduled manner. This was an issue the Senator raised.

This programme will see the development of access to specialist teams such as consultant geriatrician-led multidisciplinary teams and will bring a case management approach to supporting identified older people living in their own community through bespoke care plans and where the resources such as home care, day care and respite can be interlinked appropriately to meet their needs so that each organisation will know what each person's care plan is and can deal with it appropriately.

The Department of Health is committed to developing a national integrated strategic framework for health workforce planning, in collaboration with other Departments and agencies. A cross-sectoral steering group has been established to develop this workforce-planning framework for health services that will support the recruitment and retention of the right mix of staff across the health system. It is envisaged that a plan will be submitted by the end of the year setting out how we can ensure that there is an adequate supply of appropriately trained health professionals to provide high-quality services that are delivered safely and cost-effectively.

In that regard additional funding is required on an annual basis. We also need a change in how we provide our services. I believe that shift is happening, but obviously we need to ensure it happens as quickly as possible.