Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:3283. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health the estimated full year cost of the subsidies paid to private nursing homes. [41215/21]
View answerTuesday, 27 July 2021
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The Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), commonly referred to as Fair Deal, is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. The Scheme aims to ensure that long-term residential care is accessible and affordable for everyone, and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings.
Participants in the Scheme contribute up to 80% of their assessable income, such as their pension, and a maximum of 7.5% per annum of the value of assets held, such as their principal private residence or cash assets (these values are halved if the applicant is part of a couple).
The capital value of an individual’s principal private residence is only included in the financial assessment for the first three years of their time in care. This is known as the three-year cap, which is intended to protect the value of a principal private residence, along with the other safeguards built into the Financial Assessment which ensure that:
- Nobody will pay more than the actual cost of care;
- A participant will keep a personal allowance of 20% of their income or 20% of the maximum rate of the State Pension (Non-Contributory), whichever is the greater, and;
- If a participant has a spouse or partner remaining at home, they will be left with 50% of the couple’s income or the maximum rate of the State Pension (Non-Contributory), whichever is the greater.
All cash assets are included in the financial assessment, subject to the general assets deductible amount.
The NHSS is expected to support approximately 22,500-23,000 people at any one time in 2021, with a budget of €1.04bn. Although it has seen significant increases in the last number of years, the NHSS budget saw a small reduction in 2021 due to an expected reduction in resident numbers. This budget covers both private and public nursing homes. In 2020 private nursing homes received €680.2m in state funding through the NHSS, out of a total budget of €1.07 bn.
Private nursing homes have also been supported through the Temporary Assistance Payment or TAPS over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The TAPS was originally set up to cover the period of April, May and June 2020. It was then further extended until the end of September 2020. Following this, the Government document ‘Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19’ committed to the further extension of the Scheme. The Scheme continued to support nursing homes to the end of June 2021.
The total amount of support available through the scheme from March 2020 to June 2021 was €134.5 million:
- TAPS was extended to the end of 2020 which provided for a total value of TAPS to the end of 2020 of €92.5m.
- The further extension of TAPS for the first 6 months of 2021 was allocated funding of €42m.