40% of elderly have little or no say about care

Four out 10 elderly people have little or no say about their care, it has emerged.

Only 24% are partly involved in decision-making, but 15% are not involved at all, a survey of social workers reveals.

There is greater evidence of a rights-based approach being taken, but the number of seniors involved in the decision-making is still low.

Of the 715 older people whose cases were examined by social workers, 61% were involved in decision-making.

One social worker said there was a tendency not to bring the older person into a care planning meeting at a particular hospital where a consultant drove the decisions. Another said the family made the decision in about 90% of cases, rather than the older person.

Some older people delegated decision-making to family members because they found the systems and structures so confusing.

The report, produced by a number of social care organisations, found that more than half of people with dementia (55%) were involved in decisions about their care.

In most cases (62%), people with dementia were deemed not to have capacity; but some were not given an opportunity (4%); or their family vetoed their involvement (3%).

The publication highlights that each of the nine community health organisations has its own system for providing home care services and its own criteria for deciding what older people are entitled to.

Across all areas the home help available was minimal and ranged from less than an hour to a maximum of five hours per week, usually Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

The report was jointly produced by the Irish Association of Social Workers; Age Action; the Alzheimer Society of Ireland; and the School of Social Policy, Social Work, and Social Justice in Univesity College Dublin.