Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 June 2004
23 Mr. J. O’Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason adequate funding was not made available to the Southern Health Board to properly consider, without undue delay, applications for enhanced nursing home subvention from deserving applicants. [18396/04]
View answerDecisions on the amount of nursing home subvention to be paid in individual cases are a matter for each health board in the light of its financial resources and consistent within the provisions of the Health (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1996.
Over recent years my Department provided the board with significant additional expenditure for the subvention scheme. The level of expenditure was increased from €2.5 million in 1996 to €17.3 million in 2003 and represents an increase of nearly €15 million or over 68%. The numbers in receipt of subvention have increased from 461 in 1996 to nearly 1,000 in 2003 and represents an increase of 539 or 117%. Similarly the numbers in receipt of enhanced subvention have increased from 29 in 1996 to over 530 in 2003. In 2004 a further €556,000 was made available to the board for the scheme and the total overall budget rose to €17.959 million.
The expenditure has enabled the board to pay average subventions in excess of the maximum amounts laid down in the nursing home subvention regulations 1993. For example, in 2003 the average subvention paid by the board was €297 per week. In addition approximately 58% of those in receipt of subvention in the Southern Health Board area were paid an amount which, when combined with the non-contributory old age pension rate, amounted to practically the full nursing home charge.
My Department provided €1.8 million in 2003 and €3.8 million in 2004 for the purchase of 112 beds in private nursing homes as part of a delayed discharges initiative aimed at relieving acute bed pressures in Cork city. As many as 270 patients were discharged from acute hospitals to more appropriate accommodation. In 2004 my Department also provided the board with an additional €125,000 to commence the introduction of a new scheme of personal care packages in line with pilot schemes that have operated in a number of health board areas. The funding is being targeted at maintaining older people in their own homes who would otherwise require residential care.
The SHB and I shall continue to monitor the situation to ensure that any difficulties encountered by patients in meeting the costs of nursing home accommodation are minimised.
