THE MINISTER for Health has said the Government is to spend €28 million to establish a new intermediate care tier, to assess and treat older people while ensuring that they do not enter into long-term care earlier than is necessary.
Speaking at the opening of a new 200-bed mental health and care facility for older people in the Highfield Healthcare facility in Whitehall in Dublin yesterday, Mr Reilly said it was important that elderly people were not moved into long-term care unnecessarily.
“It’s to ensure that when frail elderly patients are admitted to hospital that they go to an appropriate ward where their acute medical needs can be met and where an assessment can begin in terms of their longer term needs,” Mr Reilly said.
“When they’ve been there for a number of weeks, if no decision has been arrived at, they will move on then to an intermediate care facility where they will have access to rehabilitation, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and a fuller assessment done and then ultimately go home or be admitted to a long-care health facility,” he said.
“We have in the region of €28 million to put towards this,” he said, adding that €13 million would come from the Fair Deal Scheme while €15 million would come from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
He said the service would include a mixture of new and existing facilities: “There will be a mixture of both but it will be very clear where they are and the pathways of referral will be very clear as well. This is being worked on by the clinical programmes in conjunction with the Special Delivery Units at the moment and it will be announced in its full detail in the coming weeks.”
A spokesman for the Department of Health later said the initiative, which will be introduced on a phased basis, was currently under design and would focus on “frail older persons”, a term which applies to 20-25 per cent of persons over the age of 70.
“Significantly it will include a different way of providing treatment for elderly people in hospitals and a greater range of supports to assist them remain in their homes,” he said.
He said the initiative would require a certain amount of reconfiguration in hospital operation to ensure an appropriate stream through the hospital for older persons.
“The intention therefore is to design a care path through the hospital which best provides for the continued independence of the older person.”