Title: Evaluation of homecare grant schemes in the NAHB and ECAHB
Authors: Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA); Timonen, Virpi
Description: This evaluation analysed the homecare grant schemes that have been in
operation in the Northern Area Health Board (NAHB) since the end of 2001 and in the East Coast Area Health Board (ECAHB) since July 2002.
These two homecare grant schemes have many common aims and starting
points:
• The homecare grants are in both health boards intended for older people who, without access to additional home support services,
would be at risk of placement in institutional care. The homecare grants are intended to enable them to purchase services that eliminate
or delay the need for institutional care.
• In both health boards, the homecare grants are intended to enable the
purchasing of additional services i.e. the intention is to complement,
not to replace, health board services such as home help and public
health nursing services.
• The grants are available both to older people living in the community
and to older people who are leaving hospital i.e. to enable discharge and return to their own home.
While several policy reports and documents at national level, including
the National Health Strategy 2001, have called for the development of
'home subvention' schemes to support older people to continue living in their own homes, considerable initiative and commitment on the part of
individual health board service planners and managers was the crucial catalyst behind the initiation of the homecare grant schemes in both health board areas. The ongoing support of the Eastern Regional Health
Authority (ERHA) also ensured that the schemes had the capacity to develop.
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