Vol. 530 No. 6
242 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on the situation whereby the Southern Health Board is stating that it has not received clarification from his Department on payment of arrears of nursing home subventions; if he will have investigations made into the situation of the family of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and when he will supply clarification to the health board in relation to this matter. [4734/01]
Articles 9.1 and 9.2 of the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, allowed health boards to assess the ability of the adult sons and/or daughters of older people who apply for nursing home subventions to contribute towards the cost of their parents' nursing home care. The provision to assess the capacity of adult sons and/or daughters to contribute towards the cost of nursing home care of their parent was deleted with effect from 1 January 1999.
Although legal advice received from the Office of the Attorney General indicates that there is no legal liability on the State to make retrospective payments in relation to family circumstances, in the interests of fairness and natural justice, it has been decided that moneys should be paid to those who were adversely affected by this provision and the approval of the Minister for Finance has been obtained. It is expected that the cost of making these payments will be in the region of £6 million.
A group representing the Department and all the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority has been established to ensure that this process is carried out on a uniform basis. As this will be a complex exercise involving, inter alia, difficult issues of traceability, it may take some time to complete. Nonetheless, every effort will be made to make payments as quickly as possible.
I have forwarded the details of the case mentioned by the Deputy to the chief executive officer of the Southern Health Board and asked that it be investigated and a response issued to the Deputy as a matter of urgency.
