Funding to support people to access services in the nursing homes sector continues to be provided in line with the long-established statutory mechanisms under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS) funding is currently released within four weeks of the application being approved, as per HSE National Service Plan 2022 commitments. In accordance with the 2009 Act, state support is only payable from the date funding is released. All NHSS applicants are advised in writing that funding will be available only from the date of funding approval, or admission to a registered nursing Home, whichever is the later. Many NHSS clients are in receipt of Transitional Care Funding to cover costs within this interim period.
Transitional Care Funding approvals to private nursing homes are funded separately to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme. Transitional Care Funding is a delayed transfer of care support to assist medically approved clients in Acute Hospitals applying for NHSS to be discharged into the nursing home of their choice, while awaiting NHSS funding release or for clients in acute hospitals who require a short period of convalescence before returning home.
As transitional care funding is to assist discharges in the Acute Hospital, ideally Transitional Care Funding should be applied for while the client is in the hospital. If a decision is made to apply for NHSS funding once the client has been discharged to the nursing home for convalescence, this requirement needs to be assessed by a multi-disciplinary team and a determination made on the Common Summary Assessment Report (CSAR) as medically requiring long term care. Requests for Transitional Care Funding when this occurs is reviewed and a decision is made on a case-by-case basis.