Individual Needs, Collective Responses. The Potential of Social Enterprise to Provide Supports & Services for Older People: Assessment of National Business Case

The evidence presented in this report suggests that the goals of public policy for older people may not be sufficiently aligned with the corresponding allocation of resources to services for older people. For example, the largest share of the HSE budget on services for older people (72%) is spent on long-stay care under the Nursing Home Support Scheme, whilst less than a third (28%) is spent on supporting people to live at home through the Home Care Package Scheme, the Home Help Scheme and Day Care. The need to review this situation is recognised and helps to explain why a substantial review is currently being undertaken. The policy goal of facilitating older people to live well in their own homes can be achieved, but will require significant re-allocations within the existing budget of services for older people. The proposed social enterprise creates new possibilities for reallocating resources in this way.