Home care help is still not on the way

Governments have backed the idea since 1968, but worries about what such a programme may cost the taxpayer have left it in limbo

‘The feeling I got was that there was something unnatural about it.” This was the instinctive reaction of Nuala Courtney when she surveyed the pristine gardens and the cosy interior of the potential new home for her husband.

But the very description on its name plate, “Nursing Home”, was, to her, a misnomer. “I don’t like the terminology ‘home’ - as in, it’s not your home. I felt a feeling of being trapped. ...