Geriatric care: A new centre dedicated to developing care and treatment for the elderly has been established by a joint Government-private partnership, it was announced yesterday.
The new professorship of geriatric medicine at Trinity College Dublin is to be co-funded by the Department of Health and by Atlantic Philanthropy (AP), the organisation led by Chuck Feeney which has to date given €500 million to Irish third-level institutions. AP will provide half of all funding for the first five years, enabling the department to attract more long-term investment, as part of a total €4 billion being donated by AP to Irish colleges over the next 15 years.
Rose Ann Kenny will head the department for geriatric medicine, taking up her new post in September. She has been professor of cardiovascular research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne since 1996 and is a leading figure in uncovering the effects of blackouts among the elderly.
According to studies in the UK, more than 45 per cent of all elderly cases that present themselves at A&E departments are falls or blackouts. Prof Kenny said hospital waits for the elderly must be eliminated. A one-site-one-stop scheme she developed in Newcastle, whereby care is given on an outpatient basis, has reduced pressure on accident and emergency departments as well as reducing running costs for hospitals. In Newcastle General Hospital, Prof Kenny's methods proved to be highly successful saving the hospital more than £3.5 million in one year alone.
Prof Kenny said that as part of the initiative, attitudes toward the elderly in Ireland would be examined, including the treatment of patients in long-term institutionalised care.
"Ireland's population is ageing and AP has clearly identified itself with addressing the problems that are associated with that. Our studies will be aimed at presenting to Government an exact and clear picture of how the elderly are treated both in hospitals and in long-term care and how that treatment can be significantly improved. We will be examining through our studies widespread attitudes toward the elderly and using various avenues, including the media, to counter them."
The new department will establish the Ireland 80-plus Study, which will determine the spectrum of health and social characteristics of older Irish people and bring together expertise from health sciences and social policy.
This study is to be presented to Government with a view to widespread implementation in hospitals across the State. Prof Kenny's aim is, within three years, to develop multi-centre national studies on causes and treatment for blackouts, falls and collapses.