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For the past ten years, I have been providing care to my mother with dementia and complex care needs whilst at the same time raising two children alone following the break-up of my marriage due to domestic abuse, and trying to combine this with work. I am exhausted and feel completely burnt out. Caring has negatively impacted on my work and career and affected my family life. My mother has recently moved to a small scale nursing home where she is so happy and so well looked after. There is huge pressure on families to continue to look after people with highly complex care needs and I question that. There are too few small scale nursing homes in Ireland.

[translated -excerpt] I would like to see society organise a systemic way of funding care for older people in their own homes for as long as possible, and then in institutions when they need it. Funding should be provided through long-term contributions to an individual’s fund, as for a pension, or through insurance. The problem of paying for care for the elderly is a major problem, and the hardship and burden on the person being cared for and on those close to them is great.

[Translated] I would like such surveys to be more efficient and to have more participation in them, and consequently I would like to talk and learn more about these issues in order to take action and make life easier for many individuals.

[Translated] There are now already too few caregivers and nothing is done about it! How will that be in 10 years ?!

My mother could afford to pay for care but we couldn’t get consistent reliable care due to the pandemic. We chose a residence but even they are limited to what they can provide and in Canada if a higher level of care is required then the person needs to go to LTC which wasn’t available at the time and she ended up staying in hospital until she passed. The government offers home supports with a cookie cutter approach; not tailored to what would make staying in her home possible. PSWs [personal support workers] to help shower and dress but no service to wash dishes. She could shower, [but] she needed help with dinner and dishes or laundry. The maximum hours [funded by the] Government is 4 hours/week not enough to sustainably stay home.

[Translated] It would be good if the decisions were also upheld when the care allowance is raised. Often the decision ends up in court and it is possible to challenge it. It should not be made difficult for those who are dependent on this financial support.

[Translated] I would not want my future to be in the hands of politicians but in the hands of qualified experts.

The government should invest in training social workers, so that quality of care is as high as possible, and at the same time the social status of social workers, professional carers and nursing staff is raised, they are better paid, and young persons would like to choose such careers.

[translated] This issue [of long-term care] needs to be discussed and prioritised by the state, because the population is ageing, children are going abroad and local structures for [supporting older people] need to be improved and a concrete annual budget established. We will all reach an age when we need help.

[Translated] In the next few years, Germany will need more good care facilities, if possible connected with other living facilities in which partners can also live. With high quality standards, but also with empathetic nursing and care staff and good living standards. With medical care, physiotherapy and a good activation program. Care should be affordable for all and not be passed on to family members who risk their health, private life and income for it. Nursing home care should not be stigmatized, as it relieves relatives of a great deal of work and ensures care free interaction with the persons to be cared for. Financial reasons should not be the reason why people do not go to a nursing home, because the psychological burden is too high.