Healthy Age Friendly Home Programme Local Co-ordinator

The Position

Meath County Council hosts the national Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service on behalf of the local government sector.

Healthy Age Friendly Homes (HAFH) is a programme run by the shared service, which has the overall objective of enabling people to remain at home (where they might otherwise have been at risk of multiple attendances and hospitalisations or premature admission to long-term nursing home care) by coordinating more integrated community-based services, providing more sustainable housing supports, supporting better connection to good public realm, and providing more assistive technologies in an age-friendly way.

This programme is now being rolled out nationally through all local authorities, and Meath County Council invites applications from suitably qualified persons who wish to be considered for inclusion on a panel from which permanent and fixed-term contract vacancies for the position of Healthy Age Friendly Homes Local Co-ordinator shall be drawn (for Clare).

These Local Coordinators will work within the multi-agency structure of the Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service to deliver on the objectives and actions of the HAFH programme in these areas. They will be part of a team of 44 Local Coordinators across the country, operating within a structure of six regions nationally. Each Local Coordinator will report to a Regional HAFH Programme Manager and will be based in the County Council Office in their area. The HAFH Programme is overseen by a National HAFH Programme Manager.

Age Friendly Programme

The national Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service brings together, supports, and provides technical guidance to the 31 local authority-led, multi-agency Age Friendly Programmes. At local level, it is developed through cooperation and partnership of older people with government agencies and service providers working side by side. Under the leadership of the local authority Chief Executives and senior managers, governance is anchored in the multi-agency age-friendly alliances, supported by broadly representative older peoples’ councils engaged as co-design partners.

The Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service provides the collaborative framework to involve senior leaders from key stakeholders such as the Local Authority, HSE, An Garda Síochána, Chambers of Commerce, community sector, third-level institutions, and others who have sufficient influence and resources to develop and deliver ambitious and collaborative Age Friendly Programmes.

The Programme for Government, agreed in July 2020, pledges a mission of Universal Healthcare, which includes a commitment to accelerating the implementation of Sláintecare, the health reform programme, and a vision of an Age Friendly Ireland. It commits to a continued investment in healthcare infrastructure in line with Project Ireland 2040. Many objectives are outlined, including the expansion of primary care and ensuring the vast majority of healthcare services are available in the home or close to home. The general approach is to support older people to live in their own home with dignity and independence for as long as possible.

The Healthy Age Friendly Homes programme’s ambition is to enable everyone to live longer, healthier lives by keeping care close to home and expanding the range of health and social care services in the community. This is particularly important for older people, who access these services more frequently. It is about providing a range of alternatives for older people who may otherwise transition into long-term residential care prematurely.

Sláintecare is the long-term cross-government programme to transform our health and social care services. It is the roadmap for building a world-class health and social care service for the Irish people. The Sláintecare vision is to achieve a universal single-tier health and social care system where everyone has equal access to services based on need, and not ability to pay. Over time, everyone will be entitled to a comprehensive range of primary, acute, and social care services. Sláintecare aims to improve patient and service user experience, improve clinician experience, lower costs, and achieve better outcomes.

Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme

The Healthy Age Friendly Homes (HAFH) Programme is an initiative funded by the Department of Health that aims to enable older people to continue living in their homes or in a home more suited to their needs, live with a sense of independence and autonomy, be and feel part of their community, and support the avoidance of early or premature admission to long-term residential care.

The Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service, together with Ireland’s 31 local authorities, manages the HAFH Programme of support specifically aimed at the health and well-being needs of older people living in our communities. HAFH aims to support up to 10,425 older people annually. It is the aim of the programme to target supports at these older people in the form of improving their living conditions, access to continued health and social care supports, and other tailored community supports.

Ultimately, this approach aims to:

• Support the avoidance of early or premature admission to long-term residential care

• Enable older people to continue living in their homes or in a home more suited to their needs (Rightsizing)

• Live with a sense of independence and autonomy

• Be and feel part of their communities

Purpose, Duties and Responsibilities

The duties of the post of the Local Coordinator include, but are not limited to:

• Case manage supports for HAFH Programme participants, including carrying out home visits, conducting assessments to identify their specific needs, and agreeing a plan for their care and support needs.

• Identify how the needs of older people may be served from existing providers and implement the care plan by coordinating supports across multiple agencies and groups to help ensure delivery.

• Ensure, where possible, existing initiatives are utilised to support people, and as such, are synchronised in line with a support plan.

• Manage their own caseload of participants and complete regular outcome reports on the progress of the HAFH Programme to inform its evaluation.

• Continually review support plans, follow up with participants as required, and assess the effectiveness of supports provided.

• Establish a system for referrals to the HAFH programme, embedding new care pathways as appropriate by linking in with local stakeholders including GPs, Practice Nurses, Housing Officers and Inspectors, Local Authority-based social workers, Public Health Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Discharge Planning Nurses, ICPOP, and others.

• Work closely with the Age Friendly HAFH Programme Manager at local level to link with relevant personnel and stakeholders to ensure progress.

• Identify and secure the support of senior managers in key agencies within the agreed geographical area to participate in the HAFH Programme, including HSE, Local Authority, An Garda Síochána, voluntary and community groups and services, and all other relevant partners.

• Develop a number of resources to support the delivery of the HAFH objectives, including: (i) a population and area profile of the county; (ii) an asset map to identify current resources and services and inform future planning; (iii) a robust multi-sectoral directory of all local services and supports (housing supports, health services, environmental, transport services, community & voluntary supports, physical & leisure activities, volunteer programmes, civic & social participation, education & training, technological supports, social supports, and others).

• Support the development of the HAFH Programme regionally and nationally in collaboration with other Local Coordinators, Regional Managers, and the National Manager.

• Contribute to the strategic and policy recommendations of the HAFH Programme.

• Ensure that work programmes are implemented within allocated budgets.

• Contribute to required reports on HAFH programme progress and effectiveness, including recommendations for ‘live’ administrative changes.

• Undertake any other duties of a similar level and responsibilities as may be required from time to time.

• Participate in the Research and Evaluation of the HAFH programme and support the participation of stakeholders in these processes.

Qualifications for the Post

Character

Each candidate must be of good character.

Health

Each candidate must be in a state of health such as would indicate a reasonable prospect of ability to render regular and efficient service.

Education and Experience

Each candidate must, on the latest date for receipt of completed application forms:

• Have a good standard of education

• Have not less than three years satisfactory experience in a development role

• Possess a good standard of administrative experience and adequate experience in an office organisation and in the control of staff

Non-Irish Qualifications must be accompanied by a determination from Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) to establish their comparability against the Irish National Framework of Qualifications. Overseas qualifications must also be accompanied by a translation document.

The successful candidate will have:

• Experience and a proven track record in person-centred care planning or service delivery/service coordination in the private, public, or voluntary sector

• Experience of working in a multi-agency or multi-stakeholder environment

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Ability to work with people and experience in consultation and facilitation is critical

• Well-developed skills and aptitudes in forging partnerships, relationship building, negotiating, and influencing skills

• Excellent project management skills or caseload management

• Knowledge and understanding of current health, housing, or social care legislation and policy in relation to older people

• Experience in innovation and problem-solving

• Excellent report writing skills

• Ability to be both self-sufficient and to work well as part of a team, contributing to the development of the team

• Satisfactory IT skills

Desirable Experience and Knowledge

• Previous experience of Age Friendly programmes, the ageing sector, housing, social care, or local health and community services is advantageous

• Experience of budget management and the ability to plan the use of resources effectively

• Satisfactory understanding of the Council’s purpose and priorities, and knowledge of public service organisation in Ireland, or the ability to acquire such knowledge

• An awareness of Health and Safety Legislation and Regulations, the implications for the organisation and the employee, and their application in the workplace

Candidates must also:

• Have the knowledge and ability to discharge the duties of the post concerned

• Be suitable on the grounds of character

• Be suitable in all other relevant respects for appointment to the post concerned

• Hold a full unendorsed Category B Driving Licence and access to own car

Candidates, if successful, will not be appointed to the post unless they:

• Agree to undertake the duties attached to the post and accept the conditions under which the duties are, or may be required to be, performed

• Are fully competent and available to undertake, and fully capable of undertaking, the duties attached to the position

Miscellaneous Provisions

Salary

Salary scale: €60,011 - €78,015 per annum (EL 07/25), analogous to the Administrative Officer grade. Payment of increments is dependent on satisfactory performance. Entry point of this scale will be determined in accordance with Circulars issued by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

Hours of Work

The normal working hours will be 35 hours per week. Duties may require the successful applicant to work outside of normal working hours (e.g. attendance at evening/weekend training duties, etc.) as part of normal working hours without additional remuneration. All hours worked will be subject to the provision of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 as amended. You may be required to complete a time-sheet in accordance with the Organisation of Working Time Regulations, 2001.

Start Date

Meath County Council shall require a person to whom an offer of employment is made to take up an appointment within a reasonable period of time, usually two months from date of offer, to meet the organisational requirements of the Council. Meath County Council reserves the right to withdraw its offer in the event that an appointment is not taken up within such a period.

Leave

30 days per annum.