Report urges integrated services for older people

Spiralling property prices and time pressures on young couples contribute to the "isolation, loneliness and fear of crime" experienced by many older people, according to a report being launched by the Taoiseach on Monday.

The research on the lives of older people living in Stoneybatter, Dublin, also finds older people feel "discriminated against on account of their age".

The report, carried out by Dublin-based council of Services for Older People, says respondents referred to surgical procedures which they believed would have been given more urgency "if they had been younger". There was also a perception that older people were not seen as needing bereavement counselling, even after the loss of a partner of 40 to 50 years.

The report refers to "severe problems of loneliness and isolation among a fairly high minority of older people" in the area.

A key reason for this is bereavement. As one older person put it: "The older you get it is like a never-ending catalogue of death: death of a husband, death of sisters, death of friends, death of neighbours. It never seems to end."

There was also increasing isolation from loved ones due to the pressures of modern life. "There was a view that the situation in relation to regularity of contact with children and grandchildren has got a lot worse over the last 20 years."

While in the past, in Stoneybatter, children would make their adult lives in the same area as their parents, "this is now virtually impossible with the house prices in Stoneybatter, and the children and grandchildren of older people often living a long distance away".

There were also "increasing concerns about issues relating to personal safety and security".

While most - 79.8 per cent - felt safe, "older people felt that a more visible and regular Garda presence could be a major deterrent to people involved in criminal and anti-social activities".

Patrick Gates, council chairman, said: "The continuing weakening of our social fabric and the fragmenting of community [ was] one of the main causes of our older people's alienation".

He called for greater public investment in services for older people focused on enhancing their sense of being part of a community.

Recommendations include:

q a day centre should be set up which would also have a drop-in social centre, advice and information and a medical centre;

q a directory of services for older people should be published;

q an "effective transport service [ should be] put in place for older people".

Lack of accessible transport is described as a "major barrier" to older people staying in contact with friends and family.