Long the fertility epicentre of Western Europe, the pendulum of Ireland’s demographics is now starting to swing the same way as much of the rest of the continent; by 2022, a further 45,000 people will fall into the ‘old’ age bracket, according to The Irish Times. The 2011 census revealed a 14% increase in over 65’s since 2006, with every indication that this greying is set to increase. While (in tandem with a shrinking younger age bracket) this might place a strain on certain services, it does present certain opportunities that franchisees can avail of, none more so than in the area of senior care.
Already a booming industry, senior care is set to grow over the coming decades as Ireland’s residents continue to age. Furthermore, with government-funded provisions for the elderly potentially taking a hit due to limited strings in the public purse, private sector franchises can play a vital role in facilitating services that their overloaded public sector counterparts may struggle to provide.
Franchise Direct currently has two options available for senior care franchising in Ireland. Home Instead Senior Care first entered the Irish market in 2005 – having originated in Nebraska a decade before – and now has 18 offices scattered across the country covering almost 84% of the population, with over a million hours of care a year administered by between 2,500-3000 carers to 5,000-6,000 clients. It specialises in providing cares to seniors within the comfort of their own homes, prolonging (in some cases even indefinitely) the duration for which they can remain within such familiar surrounds. The franchise provides all the training and support prospective franchisees need to enjoy a thoroughly satisfying career in the knowledge that the help they give constitutes a real difference to their clientele.
“Every franchise office – while independently owned – is supported by the master office based in Sandyford,” Tony O’Donovan of Home Instead Senior Care told Franchise Direct. “We support [them} from a business development point-of-view, a franchising standards point-of-view, implementing of care-giver standards, recruitment process, HR, finance etc; all the things that you would see as being part and parcel of a professional franchise operation.”
Home Instead’s extensive worldwide operations pay tribute to its success since its foundation nearly twenty years ago, and given Ireland’s increasingly seasoned age profile, there’s every reason to believe that its presence here will remain profitable into the future.
“There’s half a million people over 65 in the marketplace,” says O’Donovan. “That number is set to double over the next 20 years. The people who really need a lot of care are in their late seventies and early eighties, and that number is set to treble over the next 15 – 20 years.”
Indeed, such is the potential of the Irish senior care market that Home Instead are not the only franchise seeking to stake their claim. Everycare has for three decades been providing the highest level of domiciliary care to clients (including seniors) in the UK and is now seeking to expand into the Irish market, willing to throw its considerable clout (including a full package of training and support) behind prospective master licence franchisees on these shores. Given the phenomenal growth the market is expected to undergo over the coming years, this could prove a very prudent investment for a potential franchisee.