John McGuinness
Question:484 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [21615/01]
Written Answers. - Nursing Home Subventions.
The Second Schedule of the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, sets out the general rules for the assessment of means in respect of an application for a nursing home subvention. "Means" for the purposes of these regulations are the income and the imputed value of assets of a person in respect of whom a subvention is being sought and the income and imputed income of his or her spouse. Means are assessed for this scheme to ensure that the available funding is directed at those older people who have the greatest need of financial assistance.
Section 22 of the regulations set out an exclusion whereby a health board may refuse to pay a subvention to a person if his or her princi pal residence is valued at £75,000 – euro equivalent 95,230.36 – or more and is not occupied by a spouse, a son or daughter aged less than
21 years or in full-time education or a relative in receipt of the disabled person's maintenance allowance, blind person's pension, disability benefit, invalidity pension, or old age non-contributory pension and the person's income is greater than £5,000 – euro equivalent 6,348.69 – per annum. My Department is currently examining a number of aspects of the nursing home regulations, including a review of the value of the principal residence for the purposes of the exclusion clause.
The provision of health services in the Kilkenny area is a matter for the South-Eastern Health Board. I have asked the chief executive officer of the board to investigate this case and respond directly to the Deputy as a matter of urgency.