Dan Neville
Question:304 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the request of the Mid-Western Health Board for £2.75 million to commence the top-up scheme for nursing home subvention. [23965/01]
Written Answers. - Nursing Home Subventions.
The Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, are administered by the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority. There are currently three maximum rates of subvention payable – £90, £120 and £150, with euro equivalents of 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.
As the Deputy is aware, the Mid-Western Health Board has made a submission to my Department in relation to the development of services for older people within its area, including the nursing home subvention scheme. This submission will be the subject of further discussion between officials from my Department and the Mid-Western Health Board, in the context of the development of services for older people generally, and the agreeing of service plans.
As the Deputy will be aware, in line with a Government decision, an expenditure review of the nursing home subvention scheme has been undertaken by my Department in association with the Department of Finance. It is the intention of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, to develop proposals in relation to whatever additional measures may be necessary arising from the expenditure review, the Ombudsman's report, together with experience gained from the operation of the scheme since its inception in 1993.
In the meantime, I would like to remind the Deputy that funding for the nursing home subvention scheme has increased significantly in recent years. When the 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.