Vol. 564 No. 5
281 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the main gaps which exist in relation to Alzheimer's disease care; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that persons suffering from Alzheimer's disease who are under the age of 65 suffer serious disadvantage in relation to services. [9823/03]
The development of services for people with Alzheimer's disease is based on the action plan for dementia published by the National Council on Ageing and Older People, in 1999. Considerable progress has been made in service development since the publication of the report. However, there is need to continue with the provision of respite services in order to provide relief to carers, the development of day hospitals and day-care facilities, the provision of support to carers, including training programmes, and the development of the old age psychiatry programme to its full potential. It will be my policy to prioritise these issues as resources permit.
As I stated in my reply to a somewhat similar question from the Deputy, on 25 March last, Alzheimer's disease does not, sadly, confine itself to older people. Information available to me suggests that service providers do not deliberately discriminate against persons under 65 years of age.
