The Eastern Health Board's 10-Year Action Plan for Services for Older Persons provides for the following:
An additional 29 community nursing homes at a cost of £52 million.
An extra 311 secondary rehabilitation places, which will be located, where possible, on the campuses of acute general hospitals.
An expansion of community nursing services.
An additional 11 posts of consultant physician in medicine for the elderly and the provision of 190 acute assessment beds.
A longer-range plan for additional consultant staffing, nursing posts and paramedical staff and the provision of 360 acute and long-stay places for severely disturbed patients.
The development of a service for ageing patients in the general psychiatry service, based on continuing to care for them where possible in familiar settings.
A comprehensive programme to provide more than 300 places for patients with profound and multiple mental handicap and challenging behaviour.
Additional day hospital places at Beaumont, Tallaght and St Michael's Hospitals.
Consideration of the eventual scaling down of larger long-stay hospitals and their replacement with 11 community units, some of them on the campuses of the current hospitals.
An increase in the number of home helps and in their rates of pay to £4.50 per hour over a two-year period.
Better support for meals on wheels.
Enhanced occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, continence promotion and nutritional services.
A computerised "at risk" register for older people.
Pilot projects on dementia in the community, a memory clinic and pre-senile dementia service.
A carers' association to support those who care for loved ones at home
A charter of rights for older people, the expansion of advocacy projects and the establishment of patient/carer forums.
The appointment of an expert group to draft guidelines on the detection of possible elderly abuse.