Thousands of elderly people are expected to qualify for extra home-delivered services, including physiotherapy and nursing care, in Budget measures to be announced by the Government tomorrow, write Mark Hennessy and Liam Reid.

The measures are designed to keep several thousand older people out of nursing homes and public hospital beds in an attempt to ease the pressure on accident and emergency wards.

Under the plan, the Health Service Executive will design "home care packages" for qualifying OAPs in consultation with the patient and their families, sources told The Irish Times last night.

Depending on their needs, patients could expect to qualify for regular nurses' visits during the week to help with drugs and dressings, physiotherapy, chiropody and other services.

Currently, a small minority of OAPs receive public health nurse visits, but these are rarely more than once a week if that, while just 7 per cent have home helps and few, if any, enjoy any other professional services.

About 5,000 of the 23,000 residents of long-term nursing homes or in public hospitals could live at home if they wished if adequate supports were offered to them.

Designed to be one of the main Budget highlights from Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, it will be explained later in detail by Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney. The programme will roll out from next year and the Health Service Executive will use both public and private sector workers to provide the necessary professional services.

Two pilot studies run by the now-defunct Northern Area and Western Area health boards in Dublin are to provide the model for the new services.

More than 62,500 people aged over 65 need some form of care, ranging from help for some around the home with cooking and cleaning to the 38,000 people who need continuous 24-hour care.

Besides significant old age pension increases, the Government is also expected to increase the maximum subventions that can be offered by the State for nursing home beds.

However, major changes in the future funding of nursing home beds are likely once an inter-departmental committee report on the subject is received by the Tánaiste.

It could recommend a so-called "posthumous equity" release, where the elderly pay for part of their nursing home bill after their death from the sale of their home.

Last week, a cross-Border study showed that Northern Irish old age pensioners are more likely to be getting home help, chiropody and primary care than those in the Republic. Most older people here - 89 per cent - want to live at home with outside support rather than live in institutional care, according to the study.

Meanwhile, the childcare payment to parents expected to be announced by Mr Cowen could be set as high as €100 a week - at a cost of €470 million a year. 

Until now, it had been believed that it would not exceed €50 a week, although it appears that the Government has abandoned plans for a tax allowance or tax credit for parents.

Cabinet Ministers have ruled out the latter measure, sources have told The Irish Times, because it would have favoured two working parents and higher-income earners.

The Government will also create an "activation" fund to help the unemployed, the elderly and other social welfare recipients back into part-time work, or to return to education.

Currently, pensioners can earn a maximum of €7.50 a week before losing part of their pension. Furthermore, people on social welfare will not lose out if they become carers.

Also due as a result of Budget decisions is a €255 million package to fund building and other projects in the universities and the institutes of technology set to be unveiled by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin in the next week.

She will reveal full details of the funding shortly after this week's Budget.