Increasing home help hours and and getting more support for carers are among the areas the HSE wants to priortise in the coming year.
Its operational plan for community care shows it has an extra €11m to spend compared to last year.
Every year the operational plan for the Community Healthcare organisation covering Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Monaghan and Cavan sets out the priorities for spending.
The 2017 budget is up 3% on last year to over €385m.
The Health Authorities say with that money it hopes to develop the rollout of dementia initiatives such as awareness and carers support.
It also wants to focus on social care which mainly provides services for older people and the disabled.
That would include more home support hours and providing more beds for dementia patients – something that is seen as vitally important considering the older demographic in this region which is higher than the national average.
The plan also shows an increase in mental health funding with an extra €5m available.
It’s hoped this will go towards specialised secondary care services such as those for children and adolescents as well as setting up suicide reduction plans.
There is a slight decrease in funding for Primary Care but the HSE says this will not compromise its ongoing commitment to improving healthcare for everyone especially marginalised communities like travellers and refugees.
