Age friendly initiative aims to help older Cork adults continue living independently

Healthy Age Friendly Homes, a first-of-its-kind programme to incentivise and enable older adults in Cork to continue living independently, recently marked its official launch.

The joint Health and Local Government programme will assist up to 10,500 older adults each year through timely interventions.

It is estimated that the programme will result in an annual saving of €41.5m to the State through the prevention of hospitalisation and early or unnecessary admission to long-term residential care.

The programme’s key partners include the Department of Health, the HSE, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Age Friendly Ireland, and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

Pilot

Following a two-year pilot period across nine sites including: Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Westmeath, Tipperary, Galway City and County, Limerick City and County, Cork County and Longford, the programme will now expanding to all 31 local authorities.

Local Healthy Age Friendly Homes coordinators will manage support packages across housing, health, technology, finance, energy efficiency and social/community for each person referred.

Home-based assessments will identify a diverse range of supports to enable the older person to continue living independently — whether in their own home or more suitable housing.

These supports could include housing adaptations, rightsizing to a more appropriate home, and assistive technology such as age-friendly tablets or wearable PanPan.

Services

It will also provide connections to services such as occupational therapists, social and community groups such as Meals on Wheels and transportation to hospital appointments.

Mary Butler, mental health and older people minister, who launched the national rollout, said she was “delighted” to launch the programme which she said is open to referrals nationwide with local coordinators now in place in each of the 31 local authorities.

“The pilot phase of the programme has demonstrated that it has and will have a positive impact on the quality of life for our older people and help them to live at home for longer.

“It is a wonderful example of Sláintecare in action, working across multiple sectors and Government departments to deliver a truly person-centred care programme that tailors supports to the needs of each person.”