Vol. 574 No. 5
192 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children if the enhanced subvention payment for nursing homes has been suspended or withdrawn within the South Western Area Health Board; if there is a waiting list for applications; if so, the number on the list; when funding will become available to address the shortfall; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27743/03]
Under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990, a health board may pay a subvention towards the cost of private nursing home care, where a person is unable to meet the cost and has been assessed as needing nursing home care by a health board and where they have satisfied a means test. It was never intended that nursing home subventions would meet the full costs of private nursing home care.
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. Sections 22.3 and 22.4 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations 1993 allow health boards the discretion to contract beds in private nursing homes and to pay more than the maximum rates of subvention in such cases. The application of these provisions is a matter for each health board in the context of keeping within their overall allocation as notified annually in the letter of determination. This is in keeping with the provisions of the Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 1996.
The Deputy may be aware of the following due to his membership of the ERHA up until recently. The authority has decided that all contract beds becoming vacant after 1 September are not being renewed and that the resulting funds will be transferred to the enhanced subvention scheme. Funding for enhanced subvention in the South-Western Area Health Board is allocated to patients from St. James's Hospital, Tallaght Hospital, Naas Hospital and for clients in the community on a rotational basis. The authority has advised that the board has four waiting lists comprising of a waiting list for each hospital and one for the community. The total number of people currently on a waiting list for enhanced subvention is 64.
In July my Department made €3.8 million available to the ERHA for a nursing home subvention to relieve pressure on the acute hospital sector. The funding is being targeted at older people inappropriately accommodated in acute hospitals in the Dublin area whose discharge to more appropriate step-down facilities has been delayed because of a lack of public long-stay facilities. Since 1 September the SWAHB has approved 51 clients for enhanced subvention from the additional funding.
