The Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009, the legislation which underpins the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), outlines in Part 2, Section 7 (6) the criteria which comprises the care needs assessment under the Act. Those seeking to apply for the NHSS scheme must complete a care needs assessment. The care needs assessment is used to identify the individual requirements and care needs of the applicant and includes evaluation of the applicant’s capacity to perform activities of daily living, their cognitive ability, the family and community support that is available as well as the applicant’s access to medical, health and personal social services being provided to or available both at the time of the carrying out of the assessment and generally. The Act also includes provision for any other matter that affects a person’s ability to care for himself or herself, and consideration of the likelihood of a material alteration in the person’s circumstances during their lifetime that could potentially inhibit their ability to care for themselves.
The scope under which a person may be evaluated as needing nursing home care is broad and is largely dependent upon the applicant’s personal circumstances and identifying their ability to access personal social services and care services.
An amendment was made to the legislation and signed by the Taoiseach on 12 December 2023, via S.I. 618/2023. This amendment permits nursing home residents to retain 100% of the income accrued from renting their Principal Private Residence.
As part of the process of designing this amendment a detailed report was prepared. The NHSS Rental Income Report was presented to myself and Minister Donnelly in October 2023 and published in February 2024. The report details the risks arising from both the partial and full exclusion of Principal Private Residence rental income from the NHSS financial assessment, which I have articulated on many occasions.
To mitigate against these identified risks the HSE, as the Executive and administrator of the Scheme, implemented a new process to facilitate the receipt and processing of applications that fall under this policy. The policy has been fully implemented since 1 February 2024. The enhanced process includes appropriate checks regarding NHSS applications, data analysis to monitor trends arising, and sectoral consultation.
