A helpline for older people is receiving "a steady stream" of calls from people worried about plans by Minister for Health Mary Harney to recoup the cost of nursing home care from their estates after they die.
The Senior Help Line (1850 440444) began receiving the calls after Ms Harney announced plans in December to allow older people going into nursing homes to defer payment for their care until after their death.
The change, which is expected to come into effect next January, will allow the State collect a maximum of 15 per cent of the value of an older person's home after their death.
Mary Nally, co-ordinator of the Senior Help Line, said some older people were "very, very concerned" about the plans and they worried that their families would be left with nothing after they died.
"This is the biggest issue for the Senior Help Line at the moment.
"There is a lot of anxiety about this and people want to know if they should sign over their property now to avoid that," she said.
"But that would be a huge risk and they could end up on the street."
The Senior Help Line received more than 8,000 calls last year - a 25 per cent increase on the previous year.
Some 57 per cent of calls concerned loneliness while 1 per cent of calls were from older people who had suicidal thoughts.
Some 10 per cent of calls involved claims of abuse. These calls could involve physical, mental or financial abuse. Ms Nally said the service often received complaints that older people were being pressurised to sign over their homes or to hand over their pension payments.
She dealt with one call where a home help worker collected an older person's pension but deducted some money from it to cover petrol expenses.
"We hear about younger people applying pressure when a parent is sitting on a very valuable asset - their home," she Ms Nally.
Last week, the UK charity Action on Elder Abuse said its helpline had dealt with 471 cases of financial abuse last year. Complaints mainly involved the theft of money or valuables, amounting to £2,108,236 (€3,187,741).
In more than half of cases, the theft or fraud had allegedly been committed by the victims' own adult sons or daughters.
The helpline received calls claiming that 18 houses had been either sold or taken without the owners' consent.
The Action on Elder Abuse helpline receives a small number of calls from this State (1800 940 010) and said 20 per cent of those calls related to claims of financial abuse.
Yesterday, the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation (INHO) criticised the Health Service Executive for not highlighting new guidelines on the subvention payments for private nursing home residents.
The subvention scheme has been changed and payments increased but the INHO said residents and their families had not been informed.
