The next government must prioritise home care packages and community healthcare services for older people, the charity ALONE has insisted.

The charity made its comments in response to the ongoing crisis in the country's Emergency Departments (EDs). It said that due to the high volume of patients attending, EDs are struggling to maintain ‘a quality level of care'.

It also pointed out that older people often end up in hospital unnecessarily due to a lack of support for them in the community.

"ALONE is working to fill this gap and provide services that will support older people to age at home by investing €1 million nationally and we are calling on the Government to support us in this," commented ALONE chief executive, Sean Moynihan.

He noted that Ireland has a ‘rapidly ageing population', which inevitably puts more pressure on the health system.

"As people get older, they succumb to a range of chronic illnesses which require close monitoring and management. We should also note that there are 170,000 older Irish people living alone, which makes them vulnerable to isolation and ill health. This risk increases in winter when the nights are darker and the days are colder," Mr Moynihan explained.

ALONE has been campaigning for improved and more coordinated services at a local level for some time now and it believes that the current problems seen in the country's EDs ‘are a direct consequence of our Government's failure to address the lack of services in the community for older people'.

It noted that the latest figures from the HSE show that in September 2015, 864 people over the age of 75 were left waiting on ED trolleys for more than 24 hours, and there were 609 delayed discharges.

It insisted that some older people are ‘trapped in hospital due to a lack of services'.

ALONE has called for the development of a national infrastructure of support for older people, as well as an action plan for the housing needs of these people.

"Both these initiatives will take huge pressure off the health system and cost a fraction of the amount wasted on short-term solutions to address acute hospital and nursing home beds.

"Healthcare for our ageing population should be a major priority for the next government. If older people are supported at home and in the community, they are less dependent on hospital services. The provision of quality health care for older people is a right and a necessity," Mr Moynihan added.

For more information on ALONE, click here