🇮🇪 Ireland Ageing, Long-Term Care & Community Support Knowledge Hub

Ireland is reshaping how it supports a rapidly ageing population through a mixed system of publicly funded health and social care, family support, home support, community services, nursing home provision and an increasingly important independent and voluntary sector. Its approach brings together national government, the Health Service Executive (HSE), Health Regions, community healthcare services, hospitals, primary care, local authorities, voluntary organisations, private providers and families. The first collection within this Knowledge Hub explores Ireland Ageing, Long-Term Care & Community Support, with additional specialist collections being introduced as the library expands.

Although Ireland has distinctive arrangements for healthcare, home support, residential care and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme — widely known as Fair Deal — many of the pressures it faces are shared internationally. These include responding to rapid population ageing, enabling people to remain at home for longer, supporting family carers, expanding and regulating home support, maintaining sustainable nursing home capacity, addressing workforce shortages, improving hospital discharge and care transitions, strengthening dementia and frailty support, reducing regional inequalities and adopting technology responsibly. Ireland therefore offers valuable learning for providers, commissioners, health and social care organisations, government agencies, local authorities, researchers, policymakers and system leaders across different countries.

This Knowledge Hub has been created to examine the Irish approach to population ageing, HSE services, home support, nursing home care, Fair Deal funding, family caregiving, community support, ageing at home, housing adaptations, integrated care, dementia, frailty, falls prevention, hospital discharge, workforce development, quality regulation, safeguarding, supported decision-making, rural access, digital health, assistive technology, artificial intelligence and long-term system reform. It forms part of the interconnected international knowledge library across Impact Guru and Impact Insights Hub, supporting comparison between care systems and the practical application of international learning.

As the collection develops, articles will explore how long-term care works in Ireland, responsibilities across government and the HSE, Health Regions and local delivery, financing and eligibility, home support reform, regulation and HIQA oversight, family carers, ageing at home, community services, nursing home provision, the Fair Deal scheme, financial assessment, residential care quality, integrated care for older people, the Age-Friendly Health System, dementia, frailty, falls, transitional care, workforce sustainability, safeguarding, autonomy and supported decision-making, rural and regional inequalities, outcomes measurement, connected care, smart homes, artificial intelligence and the future direction of Irish ageing policy. The aim is to build a practical, evidence-informed resource that explains how policy, funding, regulation, health services, community support, providers, families, technology and evidence interact to improve outcomes for older people and communities.

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