Vol. 542 No. 2
301 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health and Children if there is a delay regarding payment of back money in accordance with the Ombudsman's report in cases where family means were taken into account in assessing the right to nursing home subvention; if the issue of top-up subvention has been resolved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23961/01]
The provision in the Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, which allowed for the assessment of the capacity of adult sons and-or daughters of older people who applied for nursing home subventions to contribute towards the cost of their parents' nursing home care was deleted from 1 January 1999. As the Deputy is aware, it has been decided that moneys should be paid to those who were adversely affected by this provision.
A group representing the Department, the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority was established to ensure that this process is carried out on a uniform basis as speedily as possible. This group has recently issued its recommendations as to how this issue should be progressed and all boards will be advised accordingly in the very near future. However, as the Deputy can appreciate, the issue of making payments is a complex exercise involving, inter alia, difficult issues of traceability and it may take some time to complete. Nevertheless, I am hopeful that payments will be made in the very near future.
The nursing homes subvention scheme is administered by the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority. There are currently three maximum rates of subvention payable – £90, £120 and £150, the euro equivalents of which are 114.28, 152.37 and 190.46 – in accordance with three levels of dependency – medium, high, maximum – which are eligible for subvention.
A health board may pay more than the maximum rate of subvention relative to an individual's level of dependency, for example, in cases where personal funds are exhausted. Articles 22.3 and 22.4 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, permit health boards to contract beds in private nursing homes and to pay more than the maximum rates of subvention in such cases. However, the application of these provisions is a matter for the individual health board concerned in the context of meeting increasing demands for subventions within the board's revenue allocation as notified annually in the letters of determination. This is in keeping with the provisions of the Health (Amendment) (No 3) Act, 1996.
I would like to remind the Deputy that funding for the nursing home subvention scheme has increased significantly in recent years. When this Government came to office in 1997, the funding for the scheme was £27.8 million, 35.3 million. By 2000 that figure had risen to £38.479 million, 48.86 million. An additional £14 million, 17.78 million, has been made available for 2001, bringing the total available for the scheme this year to £52 million, 66.03 million.
