Blog

The Department of Health in Ireland today launched a review of the Nursing Homes Support (“Fair Deal”) Scheme (NHSS). The main findings of the review were discussed at a briefing of older people’s organisations held as part of the launch. In blog post, CARDI’s Policy Officer Conor Breen examines the review findings in the context of demographic change:

Review findings

On Friday, 13 February 2015, Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch announced that the Fair Deal scheme in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) would require an additional €30 million each year to avoid waiting lists of longer than 8 weeks.The announcement was made at a time when overcrowding in A&Es in ROI and throughout the UK had reached exceptionally high levels. Much of the overcrowding was caused by older people who needed nursing home care not being able to access it in order to be discharged from hospital.

Lifestyle changes involving physical activity, healthy eating and maintaining a good social life around retirement leads to happier and healthier futures, it has been revealed.

A £2m project by experts at Newcastle University assessed how well people will age after retirement. The researchers studied what factors promote health and wellbeing at this stage in life.

There are over 60,000 people on the island of Ireland with dementia. Behind every statistic and diagnosis is an individual and a family, coming to terms with what dementia means to them and their loved ones.  On Wednesday 17 September 2014 The Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland launched a new awareness and information campaign #LivingWithDementia. Dr Roger O’Sullivan, CARDI’s director, attended the launch and writes:

Loneliness is a complex issue but one that has a big impact on the lives of those who experience it, especially older people. A recent research study from the University of Chicago found that the loneliest people were nearly twice as likely to die during their six-year study than the least lonely older people. In this blog CARDI invited Anne Dempsey, Head of Information at Third Age to write about this issue, how it impacts older people and some of the initiatives being taken by her organisation to combat loneliness:

Little is understood about the unique challenges faced by the ageing population of black and Asian ethnic minorities in Ireland, North and South. Yet these small older populations are growing according to the most recent censuses in Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI), writes Conor Breen, CARDI Policy Officer:

Northern Ireland

From 17 April at the Tate Modern in London will host a spectacular exhibition of the works of artist Henri Matisse. The exhibition will feature a collection of cut-out artworks in a kaleidoscope of colours including some of the artist's most well known works the Blue Nude and Icarus. Nicola Donnelly, CARDI Communications Officer, looks at the great artist's late life burst of creativity:

CARDI recently featured a blog entitled We need to talk about dementia.... Deirdre Shanagher from The Irish Hospice Foundation has written this reponse as a guest blog: