No Place Like Home: Domiciliary Care Services for Older People in Ireland

Every older person you meet, their main fear is that they will have to go into a nursing home. Remember, these people were the guts of our country; they were the backbone of our country. Give them their due. They should be treated like VIPs. (Home Care Worker) No Place Like Home is the first book to provide a comprehensive analysis of policy issues surrounding the care of older persons in their own homes in the contemporary Irish context. The contemporary context includes the operation of public, non-profit and private providers, and the proliferation of home care packages.

The book argues for the importance of putting home care first and creating policies that enable older persons with care needs to access high-quality home care services on an equitable and needs-led basis. Developing home care policies is of central importance for the well-being of the older population, and for the successful functioning of other components of social and health policy. This book offers insights into developing this crucial area of policy in the light of Irish data and international comparisons.

About the Centre

The Social Policy and Ageing Research Centre (SPARC) in Trinity College Dublin provides fresh, rigorous thinking on social policy as it relates to the ageing population in Ireland and in the global context. The Centre draws on policy and practice in Ireland and other countries to generate insights into ways in which social policies can better serve older people.