Vol. 525 No. 3
219 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Health and Children the action he is taking in response to problems outlined in the Alone Report; the timetable for action in this regard; the staff allocated in his Department to the mental health sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25206/00]
I assume the Deputy is referring to the 1996 report commissioned by Alone entitled Hospital Discharge of Older People. I understand that arrangements in relation to the discharge of older patients are in place in all acute hospitals. Notice of discharge varies from site to site with some discharges having to be arranged at short notice, for example, where there is pressure to admit patients through accident and emergency departments in some hospitals. However, it is normal procedure that no older patient is discharged without prior assessment of his-her future needs being undertaken.
In order to reduce pressure on the acute hospital sector and to provide care for older people in a more appropriate environment, additional funding has been provided since 1997 to enhance and improve services for older people in the non-acute sector. For example, since the publication by the former Eastern Health Board of its ten year action plan for services for older people 1999-2008 a number of service developments have been implemented including the provision of four hundred beds in community nursing units, in patient facilities and convalescent facilities; funding of approximately 300 additional contract beds; increased funding for nursing home subventions; provision of forty step-down beds attached to the acute general hospitals; creation of 140 day care places; appointment of two additional consultant physicians in medicine for older people, a range of measures to improve the care of older people in their home and in the community, including the appointment of community support teams and nutritional advisors; increasing the rates of pay for home helps, and provision of additional staff in voluntary care organisations including and establishment of carers groups.
In addition, community nursing units are currently under construction at Maynooth and Lusk while a unit at Leopardstown Park Hospital is due to commence construction in the summer of 2001. Further units are at various stages of planning.
As part of the winter initiative, I recently announced a £25 million investment package to alleviate pressures and to maintain services to patients in the acute hospital sector over the winter period. This package includes the provision of at least 500 additional nursing home places across the country for patients who have completed the acute phase of treatment, many of whom are in the older age group.
