One third of older people living in nursing homes could live at home, with the right supports.

The charity Alone says cuts in services for older people mean more people are being put in nursing homes before their time.

The Government's policy is to support older people in the home, and it's being called on to implement that policy.

Juliette Gash has this report;

 In Ireland, more than one third of older people in long-term nursing homes beds have low/ medium dependency needs, meaning that they could live at home if they were be provided with adequate home care.  Currently 57% of the budget for older person’s services is being allocated for just 6% of the older population.

The percentage of our older population in nursing home care is already 35% greater than the EU average and the average stay in Irish nursing homes is 1.6 years longer than our UK neighbours.  These figures prove that we are forcing older people into nursing homes before they need to go in.  

ALONE are proposing that the Government construct a plan to re-allocate a portion of funding from the Fair Deal Scheme to provide support to older people who are able to live independently with some level of supports of home care. 

Sean Moynihan, CEO of ALONE says, “As a nation, we are pushing older people into nursing homes ahead of their time, while at the same time others who need additional supports are being made do without.  In ALONE we strongly believe that more older people could be supported to live in the community but most aren’t being given this option.  We are calling on the Government to reallocate some of the Fair Deal funds so that older people can source care in their homes, ensuring that nursing home care is a last resort rather than their only choice.  In the last 5 years there has been a huge decrease in the supports for older people to age at home.  Funding for home help has been cut by €1.6 million since 2011 and Housing Adaption Grants for older people have been cut by almost €30 million in the same period”.