ALONE “Investing in home care packages is the key to solving the ongoing hospital crisis”
ALONE responds to reports that older people are forced to remain in hospital due to cutbacks to care supports that would allow them to return home.
Dublin, 30th March 2016 ALONE concerned over cutbacks in home care packages, as highlighted in media reports today. ALONE is currently advocating for a number of older people in hospital who are well enough to be at home, provided they have adequate support, but who cannot be discharged as there are no options of care available to them.
Home Help hours have been cut by 1.6 million hours since 2008. In this time there has been a 160,000 increase in the number of people over the age of 65. Supporting older people to age at home has widespread support. It was included in the last Programme for Government, is part of the National Positive Ageing Strategy and the HSE Service plan, however home care packages are key to implementing this vision. Yesterday the INMO trolley watch reported that there were 381 people on trolleys across the country, while figures for December 2015 showed that there were 509 delayed discharges. Investing in home care packages is a major part of solving the hospital trolley crisis and overcrowding in emergency departments.
Sean Moynihan, Chief Executive of ALONE, commented “It’s clear that we need to radically change how we support our older demographic. We urgently need to look at how we can enable a greater number of older people to age in our communities, because continuing with the same model of overcrowding in hospital and emergency departments and high numbers in nursing home care is simply not sustainable. As well as being what most people want, ageing at home also makes economic sense.”
He continued, “Unless we invest in home care we are going to have major crisis in overcrowding in hospitals. ALONE is working to fill this gap and provide services that will support older people to age at home by investing €1 million nationally and we are calling on the Government to support us in this.”
ALONE have conducted a cost comparison on the various options for caring for older people
- The cost of an acute hospital bed is between €800 and €900 per day
- The cost of a nursing home bed per day is between €100 and €200
- The cost of home help 3 times a day is between €50 and €70
- The cost of ALONE housing with supports is €34 a day
For those who have concerns about their own wellbeing, or the wellbeing of a vulnerable older person in the community, ALONE can be contacted on (01) 679 1032. To make a donation and help aid ALONE’s work visit www.alone.ie