Ageing population to put health service under more pressure

THE health service will come under more pressure into the future following research which shows the older population is set to double in the next 30 years.

Increasing numbers of highly dependent, frail and disabled older people will require new interventions and improved health and social care inputs, the PhD research findings presented at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) show.

Imminent demographic and social changes will cause huge growth in the number of family carers in the community, the joint research study on the subject by the WIT, the South Eastern Health Board and the University of Ulster found. Dr Paula Lane, a SEHB employee who works with the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences at the institute, says that with Ireland’s older population set to double in the years to 2031, pressure on family carers will grow.