After-hours phone cover for home care in Midleton.
For home care providers in County Cork and the HSE South West region: an after-hours line answered every night by Hettie, with urgent and emergency calls reaching a person at minute 0.
From €2 per active patient per monthNo setup feeFour escalation levels
Local picture
Home care in Midleton and County Cork.
Census 2022 puts Midleton, a town in East Cork, at 13,906 people. Of those, 1,499 (10.8%) are aged 65 and over, a younger profile than the county as a whole. In County Cork, 89,461 people are 65 or over, 15.3% of the county, and growth in that age group ranks 18th of the 26 counties. The census counts 21,979 people aged 65 or over living alone in County Cork, which is 26.0% of that age group in private households. The census records 724 unpaid carers in the town, 5.2% of the population, and 2,925 people (21.0%) with a disability.
The HSE structure here is HSE South West, within the Cork North and East area. Which HSE home support office a client belongs to depends on the address: the offices are Cork (South Lee and West Cork) and Cork (North Cork and North Lee). For a doctor after hours, callers go through SouthDoc. County Cork has 29 home care offices on the lists we compiled in October 2026, from 25 names. Names on the county list include Dovida, Bluebird Care, Caremark, Comfort Keepers and Right at Home. Fewer than most places, perhaps, but the older residents here are the ones whose families are least likely to be nearby.
People leaving hospital from this area are most likely to come home from Cork University Hospital. Palliative care in the area is provided by Marymount University Hospital & Hospice. An agency here may find that more of its calls come after the working day, when relatives get home and read the rota. Carrigaline is 19 km away, Cork is 20 km: for a rota planner the whole cluster is one patch. The Gaeltacht areas of County Cork (Múscraí and Oileán Chléire) are worth a mention: if your clients there speak Irish, raise it with us at the demo.
Five modules across the care journey. Start with the after-hours line and add the rest when you are ready.
After-hours Coverage
Every call to your office answered in your agency's name, in office hours and after them. Urgent and emergency calls reach a person at minute 0; everything else is in your morning summary. Your on-call nurse hears only the calls that need them.
Get the client, the family and your care team ready for a good first visit: start date, first carer and access notes confirmed before anyone knocks on the door.
Included in the During care package, €2 per active patient per month for all three
Regular check-ins with everyone on your books, never more than twice a week, in the language of the HIQA National Standards for Home Support. You hear about unhappiness while there is still time to put it right.
Hettie confirms tomorrow's visits and passes timing on in both directions, so clients are not left wondering when their carer will arrive, whether the round stays in town or runs out towards Cobh.
For weeks after a package ends or a hospital stay, Hettie keeps in touch and hears when things start to slip. For clients coming home from Cork University Hospital, that is the call that catches a problem in the first days.
Hettie works for the provider. The HSE office is the one that approves and commissions home support hours; your agency delivers them. The HSE home support offices that serve the area are Cork (South Lee and West Cork) (St Finbarr's Hospital, Douglas Road, Cork T12 XH60, telephone 021 492 3864); Cork (North Cork and North Lee) (Mallow Primary Care Centre, Goulds Hill, Mallow, telephone 022 587 49). Hettie does not take referrals from the office or change what it commissions. It answers your line out of hours, makes welcome and satisfaction calls to your clients, and writes up every call so you have a record to show the HSE or HIQA.
None directly: Hettie is not connected to hospital systems. Post-discharge calls go to your own clients, from the list you give it. The acute hospitals nearest the area on the HSE list are Cork University Hospital, so those are the discharges an agency here is most likely to see. When a client comes home from one of them, you add them to the Post-Discharge Follow-up programme (€3 per active patient per month), and Hettie rings in the days that follow and flags to your coordinator anything that has slipped.
Hettie answers first, in your agency's name, and says it is an automated assistant. Four escalation levels decide what happens next. Information and attention go into your morning summary. Urgent and emergency reach a person at minute 0: an urgent call is transferred live to your on-call nurse or manager, and for an emergency Hettie tells the caller to ring 112 or 999 and alerts your on-call team at the same time. The person who picks up is someone on your own rota. SouthDoc is the out-of-hours GP service for the area if the caller needs a doctor, and Hettie does not give medical advice.
Hettie's Care Centre is designed to go live in 24 hours once the data processing agreement is signed. You hold a kick-off call about branches, on-call rota and what counts as urgent, send a spreadsheet of clients and numbers, run test calls with your team, then forward your after-hours line. There is no setup fee and no integration is needed to start. Early access is open to providers in Ireland, so ask about the pilot when you request a demo.
Client details, transcripts and call write-ups are stored and processed in the European Union. Health data is special category data under Article 9 of the GDPR, and Hettie acts as your processor under a signed data processing agreement. We say the EU because that is what we can state today. Ask us about the hosting location when you request a demo.
Want to see if Hettie fits the way you work?
A short chat about how your service runs, and a walk through what Hettie would have picked up from your clients last week.
For home care providers and hospices in Ireland. Early access is open.
See a call. One evening at Ashgrove.
Example. Fictional agency and people.
Outgoing callHettie · Calling for Ashgrove Home Support
Connected
HettieHello, is that Nora? This is Hettie, the automated assistant calling from Ashgrove Home Support. This call is recorded for your care team, as agreed with you.
NoraOh hello, yes, it's Nora.
HettieI'm ringing to confirm your visit tomorrow morning. Siobhán will be with you at nine. Does that still suit?
NoraNine is grand. Tell her the side door is open.
HettieI'll pass that on to her. And how have you been since her last visit?
NoraAh, not bad. I had a bit of a fall in the bathroom last night. I'm alright though.
HettieI'm sorry to hear that, Nora, and thank you for telling me. Are you sore anywhere at the moment?
NoraMy hip is a bit sore, that's all.
HettieI'm letting the nurse on call at Ashgrove know now, and she'll ring you back this evening. Is this the best number for her?
NoraIt is, yeah.
HettieLovely. If you feel worse before then, or you can't get up, ring 112 or 999 straight away. Take care, Nora.
What Hettie picked up
Visit confirmed · Tomorrow 09:00
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Note for carer: side door open
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Fall reported
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On-call nurse notified
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Care system
Hettie asks one question to clarify and no more. The nurse on call decides what happens next. The 112 and 999 line is fixed safety wording your agency approves.