Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 July 2021
439. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Health if the temporary assistance payment scheme for nursing homes will be continued beyond June 2021; if any engagement has taken place with nursing home representative organisations regarding the continuance of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29053/21]
View answerThe Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme (TAPS) was established in April 2020 as a temporary administrative measure in response to the challenges faced by the nursing home sector at the start of the pandemic. As the pandemic continued, additional support measures for private and voluntary nursing homes have been delivered through the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The Department of Health held a meeting with Nursing Homes Ireland, the national representative body for private and voluntary nursing homes, on May 25th to discuss the future plans for TAPS. Taking on board the concerns expressed by NHI and all other available advice, the decision was made to discontinue TAPS at the end of June 2021 as previously planned. A letter was issued to NHI dated June 4th 2021 informing them of this decision.
As of 11th June 2021, 7,148 claims had been submitted as part of the Scheme. In total, €134.5 million has been made available under TAPS between 2020 and 2021.
Due to the ongoing high-level of risk associated with COVID-19 during this period, the Department of Health responded by extending the scheme twice, far beyond the originally planned timescale of three-months. The further extension of the scheme was outlined in the Government’s Plan, Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 Plan for Living with COVID-19, published in September 2020. This provided reassurance of the Scheme’s availability and a planned timeframe of operation to the end of June 2021.
There has been a marked improvement in the status of the virus in the community and in nursing homes due to the rollout of the National Vaccination Programme – COVID-19 cases and outbreaks in nursing homes are now at a very low level compared with the first quarter of the year and, overall, the epidemiological situation is very positive. Whilst we do not have precise up-to-date data due to the impact of the recent cyber-attack on the HSE, indications from HIQA and public health teams are that there was only a single outbreak recorded in the first half of June.
The Scheme has fulfilled its temporary purpose of providing financial support to nursing homes to address COVID-19. Although the risk is greatly reduced, it has not been completely eliminated, therefore the outbreak assistance element of the Scheme will continue to be available to nursing homes until the end of 2021. Availability of outbreak assistance is subject to the overall sanctioned amount of €42m for 2021.
The substantial package of non-financial supports outlined below will continue to be provided for the time being:
- Provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The continued supply of PPE is a key support mechanism and will be provided in line with clinical and public health recommendations;
- The COVID-19 Response Teams established to support Public Health Outbreak teams covering all residential services as well as home support settings. All stakeholders, including the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel, have highlighted the significant contribution these new teams have made to supporting nursing homes throughout the pandemic;
- The HSE Temporary Accommodation Scheme;
- HSE training and development resources, including the opening up of HSeLanD to private and voluntary providers.
- IPC support and advice;
- The substantial suite of publicly available guidance developed to support the sector.
These measures and supports reflect a significant investment by the State to support nursing homes and other services and measures, such as the COVID-19 Response Teams, and are a clear signal of the work that is ongoing to integrate the wider health system.
In February 2021, a revised Resilience and Recovery 2021 Plan: The Path Ahead was published by the Government. This plan recognises the need for longer-term reform of both older persons and nursing home care, broadly reflecting the lessons learned from the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel and the pandemic. However, these structural reforms, including the policy and regulatory framework, extend beyond the scope of a temporary financial support scheme aimed at a specific, time-limited public health objective.
