Ivana Bacik
Ceist:808. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to research from a group (details supplied); and the way he plans to implement its recommendations. [50929/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 19 October 2021
Ceisteanna (808)
Freagraí scríofa
As Minister of State with responsibility for Mental Health and Older People, I am committed to supporting the continued development of dementia services to support people living with dementia and their carers. As part of my role, I regularly meet with and listen to the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers together with their representative groups, including the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland.
I was delighted to be able to announce an additional allocation of €7.3 million in Budget 2022 for dementia services. I am confident that this investment will continue to improve diagnosis and access to services for people with dementia across the country as part of the implementation of the Irish National Dementia Strategy.
An additional €7.3 million will allow for the further improvement of dementia services, including in the areas of memory assessment and support services, memory technology resource rooms, the implementation of the dementia registry and dementia audit within acute hospitals and the national intellectual disability memory service– the details will be finalised over the coming weeks with the HSE as part of the National Service Plan.
In addition to the €7.3m, the proportion of new home support hours ringfenced for people with dementia will more than double from 5% in 2021 to 11% in 2022.
Taken together, this will represent 15 million euro of investment dedicated to dementia in 2022, on top of the €12.9m of additional funding in 2021.
The additional funding of €12.9m for dementia services in 2021 allowed for the following key elements:
- €7m to fund 250,000 hours of home support for people living with dementia;
- €0.9m to expand the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland Dementia Advisor Service through recruiting an additional 11 dementia advisors, resulting in a total of 28 nationally by the end of the year; - 9 of these new posts are now in place.
- €5m for a range of measures to enhance services and supports for people with dementia. These measures included:
(a) the further development of dementia diagnostic services through the establishment of a specialist memory clinic in Cork and progressing four new regional memory assessment and support services;
(b) enhancing acute care pathways for people with dementia through the recruitment of more clinical nurse specialists;
(c) the implementation of a National Clinical Guideline on the appropriate prescribing of psychotropic medication for non-cognitive symptoms in people with dementia;
(d) enhancing Memory Technology Resource Room services in 9 sites;
(e) provision of in-home day care for people who were impacted by the suspension of day care services during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
(f) continuation of the Dementia Understand Together Campaign.