THE IRISH TIMES: IRELAND’S AGEING population presents a massive challenge for governments North and South, with an additional 45,000 older people requiring care over the next decade, according to a major new report. Every day over the next 10 years, an additional seven older people in the Republic, and two in Northern Ireland, will require long-term residential care or home care or home help.
There are serious questions about who will provide this care, especially given the likely increase in female emigration and workforce participation, according to the research funded by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland.
“Although older people are living longer and in better health, Ireland will face substantial extra demands for care of older people every year as the population ages. If care in the community and residential care are not developed appropriately, the pressures on the acute hospital system will be unsustainable,” said Prof Charles Normand of TCD.
The report points out that, in Northern Ireland, there is a legal basis for home help and homecare services and an integrated system to assess a person’s need for care at home or placement in a care home. In the Republic, such assessment only applies in respect of the Fair Deal scheme for placement in a home.
Read the Full Article by PAUL CULLEN, Health Correspondent The Irish Times at this link
ttp://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1025/1224325680229