Care Co-operatives Research Report Launch

22 Mar 2024

On 22 March 2024 the Centre for Co-operative Studies and ISS21 hosted a launch for the report: Supporting Older People to Age Well at Home: Assessing the Potential of Care Co-operatives in Ireland, by Dr Carol Power and Dr Caroline Crowley.

Presenters

Abstract

Most people approaching older age in Ireland express a preference to live in their own homes and remain embedded in their communities.  To facilitate this, many may need home care and supports to enable them to continue to live independently.  The HSE was once the main provider of home care services, though it also funded non-profit organisations to provide care in some areas.  However, in the past decade, growth in the outsourcing of care through competitive tendering has fuelled the growth of the for-profit sector. It has been estimated that care hours provided by for-profit companies outnumber those provided by the non-profit sector by a ratio of approximately 7 to 1 (Walsh and Lyons, 2021).   Staff recruitment and retention challenges, which have resulted in a shortage of care workers, have been attributed to low pay and poor working conditions for workers in the private sector in particular.  This has a negative impact on older people's ability to access high-quality care in order to age well at home.  Care worker shortages come at a time when Ireland's population is ageing and the demand for home care will grow.  This calls for innovative solutions that value and appropriately reward care work, respect older people’s rights and support them to experience the best quality of life possible. 

Care co-operatives offer a potential solution to some of the problems inherent in the current home care system.  Care co-operatives are owned, governed and operated by people who use care services and/or care workers and other stakeholders. They are designed not for profit, but for service to their members.  As member-driven organisations, they can empower older people and their families to shape the design and delivery of care services, while simultaneously providing better working conditions and offering potential to improve the job satisfaction of care workers. 

This research explores the potential of co-operatives to provide home care services and support independent living and healthy ageing in the community.  It explores how the development of care co-operatives could be supported and it situates the role of co-operatives in a wider reform of the care system.

For more on this story contact:

Dr Carol Power (CPower@ucc.ie)