ALONE welcome Government’s Emergency Department Task Force
2nd April 2015 Dublin ALONE have responded to the Government’s Emergency Department Task Force released today.
Sean Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer of ALONE commented, “As an organisation that supports older people to age in the community, we welcome the Emergency Department Task Force document released today. If implemented effectively it will address many of the issues currently affecting older people”.
Moynihan continued, “We have been long campaigning for a more integrated approach to the care of older people across community and hospital services and we believe that investment in this area is key to improving the lives of older people. Recent figures show that 1/3 of those currently in nursing homes have low to medium level of care need, meaning there is potential for many of these to be supported to live independently in the community”.
Moynihan concluded, “We also welcome the development of a framework for our ageing population, in Ireland we have a dramatically ageing demographic with over 20,000 additional over 65’s every year. We look forward to seeing better services for older people in the future as we believe this is the foundation to solving the crisis”.