“Being at home helped me recover, because I felt happier at home. The service was fantastic, I never expected it,” says Patrick (Paddy) Corcoran, a retired baker, about the Cork South Older Person’s hub. 

The team at the Older Person’s Hub helped Paddy (89) get back to his own home after spending three weeks in hospital after a bad fall. Paddy was very eager to leave hospital and continue his recuperation at home in Togher in Cork City.

Paddy received a visit from the outreach team three times a week.

“I was delighted when they came. I was at home, and the outreach team would visit me three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The outreach nurse collected my prescription, and brought it to me. That meant so much to me because I couldn’t collect it myself, and she did it all for me, ” says Paddy describing what the support the Older Person’s service meant to him.

Enhanced Community Care programme

Part of the HSE’s Enhanced Community Care programme, the Cork South Older Person’s Hub is supporting older people like Paddy to avoid hospital and stay safe and well in their own homes.  The Cork/ Kerry Community Healthcare Integrated Care Hub for older people is one of two such hubs in Cork city and is based at St. Finbarr’s Health Campus in Cork City. The hub provides services to people over 65 years of age with complex needs and frailty, and gives them access to specialist multidisciplinary assessment for older people. The service is helping at least 2,500 older people every year, with 200 new patients taken on each month. Urgent referrals are seen in the same week, and referrals to the rapid access clinic are seen within two weeks.

An outreach team provides a “ward at home” service and sees 45 patients a month, in their own home. It provides for crisis intervention and assessment and case management. The hub provides people access to a range of clinics, including rapid access clinics; falls clinics; clinics that assist with memory or dementia; frailty clinics and several nurse-led and therapy-led clinics.

 Watch Paddy and Sally outline their experiences in Cork