Vol. 468 No. 4
160 Mr. Hughes asked the Minister for Health the implications, if any, the projections of rapidly ageing populations will have on funding of the health services; and the studies, if any, that will be undertaken in this regard. [15283/96]
Limerick East): Shaping a Healthier Future, my Department's strategy for the health services, recognises the challenge to the health services of a rapid increase in the elderly population. The care of the ill and dependent elderly is clearly going to be one of the key issues to be addressed by the health services over the next decade. The challenge now is to reorganise existing services and develop new services, to ensure that the ill and dependent elderly get the most effective care available.
As promised in the strategy, my Department, through its advisory body, the National Council for the Elderly, commissioned a study on the long-term implications of an ageing population in Ireland. The National Council report, Health and Social Care Implications of Population Ageing in Ireland, 1991-2011 was published in October, 1995, and the conclusions arrived at in the report are being studied.
