Recommendations
Oversight & Accountability Establish an Independent Commissioner for Ageing and Older People Underpinning all of the following recommendations to improve the end-of-life experience for older people is the Alliance of Age Sector NGO’s call for the establishment of an Independent Commissioner for Ageing and Older People. The Commissioner would be directly accountable to the Oireachtas, with a mandate to promote and protect the interests and well-being of older people. This would mean that issues related to older people and ageing are kept to the fore of policy and decision-making to enable enhanced investment and accountability in the policies and services that support people to live and die well. The establishment of an Independent Commissioner for Ageing and Older People would ensure: • Older people are treated as equal partners in their own care. • Oversight of the implementation of the recommendations outlined below to ensure fairness, swiftness, and accountability. • Initiatives to enhance age-appropriate communication and delivery of services that are resourced and implemented. The Alliance of Age Sector NGO’s are calling for 11 recommended actions to improve the end-of-life experience for older people. The recommendations presented are based on a range of evidence: the findings from the National End of Life Survey, the collective experience of the eight member organisations in their work with older people, and the recommendations noted in our previous Telling It Like It Is series. Training 1) Ensure all those interacting with older people are provided with the training and resources to engage in honest conversations. Targeted training should challenge assumptions that older people are not capable of or interested in participating in end-of-life discussions. • People need time when a person is at end of life. Time to be listened to, time to ask questions, time to be with the person and staff must ensure that people have an appropriate level of understanding of what is happening.
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Experiences of Older People at End of Life 2025
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