‘Services need to adapt to care for older people’

The Government has unveiled a combination of measures which will increase hardship for the most vulnerable elderly in our society forcing more to turn to charities for help, it has been claimed.

Age Action spokesman Eamon Timmins said it would be the housebound, those living alone, and the sickest and poorest of older people who would suffer most from increases in the prescription charge for medical card holders, the abolition of the phone allowance, and changes to income limits for the Over-70s medical card.

“Older people are struggling to make ends meet as a result of the cumulative impact of a succession of austerity budgets,” said Mr Timmins.