Sláintecare and Age Friendly Ireland have launched the National Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme.

The Programme is a new initiative, funded by Sláintecare, that aims to enable older people to continue living in their homes or in a home more suited to their needs.

The Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, TD and Minister of State for Planning and Local Government Peter Burke TD have launched a new programme which is aimed at supporting older adults to remain living in their own homes and communities.

The Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme is a Sláintecare and Age Friendly Ireland joint programme. It is a two-year programme and it will be rolled out across nine Local Authority areas. The programme funded by Sláintecare aims to reach up to 4,500 homes across nine Local Authority areas and support up to 12,000 older people over the two years. These older people will have been identified as having significant social care needs and at risk of hospitalisation or premature entry into long term residential care. It is the aim of this programme to target supports at these older people in the form of improving their living conditions, access to continued health and social care supports and tailored community supports. The Local Coordinators will support older people and their families to navigate the services by proactively linking them to the appropriate supports and services.

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The approach aims to:

• Support the avoidance of early or premature admission to long term residential care

• Enable older people to continue living in their homes or in a home more suited to their needs (Rightsizing)

• Live with a sense of independence and autonomy

• Be and feel part of their communities.

Research shows that the majority of people want to remain in their own home as they age. This desire however is often challenged by their home not being suitable, their needs become more pronounced, their financial means decrease or their mobility declines. With the right assessment and intervention, the living environment can be changed from being one of health risk to one of health support.

The approach taken in the Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme is to support older people to live in their own home with dignity and independence, for as long as possible. The programme's ambition is to enable everyone to live longer healthier lives by keeping care close to home and expanding the range of health and social care services in the community. This is particularly important for older people, who access these services more frequently.