Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for raising the issues. As a response to the challenges facing people with dementia and their families and carers, the national dementia strategy was launched in December 2014. It contains 35 priority and additional actions and its implementation is led by the national dementia office in the HSE. Plans are progressing to further implement the dementia strategy through the national dementia office, including in the area of diagnosis, post-diagnostic supports and care pathways.

In 2016 and 2017, the national dementia office partnered with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland on a project to map dementia-specific community-based services and supports. It provides a useful snapshot and baseline study into what, where and when dementia services are offered. The study was also used to inform a service finder hosted on the national dementia office’s website, which allows people to search for dementia-specific community services in their area.

There are gaps in access to services and a large variance in what services are provided across the country. The national dementia office met with senior HSE officials in each community healthcare organisation region to highlight gaps in each area and develop local action plans to improve service provision. The national dementia office also developed a needs analysis framework to support local dementia service planning and development. This framework is a mechanism to help the office direct time, energy and resources into dementia care that most appropriately meets the needs of people with dementia. It will be used to make dementia service development more responsive and consistent around the country.

The national dementia strategy calls for the HSE to consider the provision of dementia advisers, based on the experience of demonstrator sites. There are nine dementia advisers in the country, eight of whom are hired by the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. The HSE contributed €400,000 to the service in both 2017 and 2018. An evaluation of the dementia adviser service was published on 26 September and recommended the continuation and expansion of the service to ensure equity of access country-wide. The Government welcomes the positive results of the evaluation and will continue to work to improve service delivery for people with dementia.

Dementia advisers are not the only community support being given to people with dementia and their families and carers. The Department of Health secured funding through the Dormant Accounts Fund for numerous projects to improve care and supports for people with dementia, including the delivery of post-diagnostic supports, a dementia diagnostic service for people with intellectual disability, a national network of memory technology resource rooms, the development of a national dementia registry, the national roll-out of a dementia training programme for HSE home care staff, the development of dementia resource centres, funding for a dementia community activation co-ordinator and community support projects for people with dementia. On the Senator’s request to increase the number of dementia advisers, the quantum of services to be provided by the HSE is being considered as part of the HSE’s 2019 national service plan.