Michael Creed
Question:283 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Health and Children if a person (details supplied) in County Cork is entitled to enhanced nursing home subvention. [24879/01]
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 three maximum rates of subvention payable, £90 or 114.28, £120 or 152.39, £150 or 190.46, in accordance with three levels of dependency, medium, high and maximum, which are eligible for subvention. The new rates represent a 25% increase and were introduced on 1 April last.
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.
On the particular case raised by the Deputy, as the provision of health services in the Cork area is a matter for the Southern Health Board, I have asked the chief executive officer of the board to investigate the case and respond to the Deputy as a matter of urgency.