Nora Owen
Ceist:71 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the number of carers providing service to incapacitated relatives and his views on whether sufficient respite beds are available to support them.
Vol. 411 No. 6
71 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the number of carers providing service to incapacitated relatives and his views on whether sufficient respite beds are available to support them.
In 1988, the National Council for the Elderly, an advisory body to my Department, undertook a study entitled The Caring Process — A Study of Carers in the Home. This study provided information for the first time on family members caring for elderly relatives. It estimated that somewhere in the region of 66,000 elderly people were at least partially dependent on help and required some level of care. Furthermore it estimated that 50,000 of these were cared for from within the home — by family carers.