Abstract Introduction Lack of home ownership is associated higher rates of mental and physical ill-health and death1. According to longitudinal data in Ireland, 92% of persons aged 75 and over own their homes outright with approximately 8% living in rented accommodation2. We sought to compare characteristics of a cohort of patients open to our Integrated Care for Older Persons (ICOP) team with this national Irish dataset. Method A convenience sample of 50 patients reviewed by the ICOP team in a University Teaching Hospital was analysed. Data was anonymised and stored via encrypted key. Analysis was performed using SPSS v.27. Results The average age was 82.5 (±8.1) with 70% women in the sample. There was a lower prevalence of home ownership in this group of patients than the national norm (66% vs 92%) ie 34% were living in rental accommodation, majority Local Authorities. Those living in Local Authority accommodation had lower overall time spent in full time education than those who owned their own home (9.3 ± 3.1 vs 11.5 ± 3.3 p = 0.013), they were more likely to require external assistance with finances (54.5% v 88.2% p = 0.026) and less likely to have a Will (63.6% vs 35.2% p = NS) or EPOA (33.3% vs 23.5% p = 0.053) established. There was no significant difference in age, CFS, MMSE, Waterlow or polypharmacy rates between these groups. Discussion This report highlights a divergence between community dwelling older adults referred to ICOP teams and national standard data. Targeted social work interventions should be operationalised to assist financially vulnerable older adults. 1: Marmot M, Geddes I, Bloomer E, Allen J, Goldblatt P. The health impacts of cold homes and fuel poverty. London: Friends of the Earth. 2011. 2: Orr, J, Scarlett S, Donoghue, O, McGarrigle, C. Housing conditions of Ireland’s older population. Implications for physical and mental health, 2016. Available from https://tilda.tcd.ie/publications/reports/pdf/Report_HousingConditions.pdf

Abstract Background An important consequence of population ageing has been the increasing number of older adults who live alone. According to TILDA data, older adults with the lowest levels of education tend to experience most social isolation and there is a strong association between living alone and loneliness. We sought to compare the cohort of patients open to the Integrated Care for Older Persons (ICPOP) team in a University Teaching Hospital serving a community area of approx. 300,000 population, to this national dataset. Methods A convenience sample of 174 patients who underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment via domiciliary visit between July 2021-May 2022 by was analysed. Data was anonymised and analysis was performed using SPSS v.27. Results The average age was 81.5 (±8.1) with 63% women in the sample. Eighty-five older adults i.e. 49% of the sample either lived alone or spent more than 21 hours alone per 24-hour period. Compared to those who live with someone, those who lived alone had higher rates of likely depression as determined by Geriatric Depression Score (6.6 vs 4.8 p=0.007). They were also likely to have less educational attainment, as determined by years spent in full time education (11.81 vs 10.42 42 p= 0.0016) and those living alone had overall less central heating in their homes than those not living alone (64/85 vs 81/89 p=0.0109). There were no significant differences in the rates of polypharmacy, falls, dementia and home ownership between groups. There were higher levels of frailty in the group living with someone than those living alone as determined by Clinical Frailty Scale (6.14 vs 5.23 p<0.001). Conclusion A high proportion of patients seen by our ICPOP team live alone and have complex care needs that require an innovative, multidisciplinary approach. Financial vulnerability in this group is likely to compound isolation and loneliness.