Funds for elderly - Flexible care must not be inferior care

It is, of course, preferable to have elderly people looked after in the familiar surroundings and comfort of their own home, where possible, and for this reason the supports announced yesterday by Tánaiste Mary Harney are to be welcomed.

What Ms Harney announced were details of a €150 million package to provide services for the elderly, funding for which was announced in Wednesday’s Budget.

This package, however, is not a panacea that will deliver comprehensive care of the elderly.

The bulk of funding, about three-quarters, will go towards supporting community-based care, which infers that elderly people are to get more support if they opt to stay in their own homes.

Extra finance has been provided, in that regard, for home-care support packages, home help and meals on wheels. Ms Harney also unveiled a number of new measures that focus on caring for older people at home, the aim being to improve community care supports.

What was unveiled could, and should, translate into an improvement in services for older people who need care at home.

This is economically sound as it gives older people who need such care the option of being looked after at home.

The health minister intends to provide older people with a flexible choice of health services, which sounds ideal, but in this case flexible cannot and should not mean inferior.

Ms Harney is probably correct in her assertion that about one-third of nursing home patients could be treated at home - because they do not require full-time care.

If elderly people are to be encouraged into choosing home care, however, it is vital that the proper facilities and personnel are provided.

There is an urgent need to ensure that those remaining at home can call upon the services of an adequate number of nurses, home care attendants and therapists, no matter what part of the country they live in.

An additional €20m, meanwhile, has been allocated to the subvention scheme for residents of private nursing homes.

Presumably the logic is that elderly persons opting for home care will generate a considerable subvention saving for the health service.

If older people are to be persuaded to opt for home care, however, the €55m of the new funding programme, geared specifically for home care support packages cannot be diluted or diverted for any reason.

The cost of the package should be weighed against the €400m the Government has set aside for repayment purposes, arising out of the debacle whereby people were illegally charged, for years, for nursing home care.

It also remains to be seen whether the financial provisions for home help, for day care and respite care centres, for specialist palliative care and other services will prove sufficient.

It was inevitable that the Government would be accused by the opposition parties of putting together a budget that was aimed at somehow buying the next general election.

With an 11% increase in Government spending next year, or €5 billion, the ruling coalition certainly had the scope to do engage in vote buying.

There has been a mixed reaction, however, from various organisations to the Budget - reflected in the comment from the Conference of Religious in Ireland, which said the Government has taken significant steps in the right direction, but added that much remains to be done if Ireland is to become a fairer and more inclusive society.