I am glad of the opportunity to highlight the need for the Minister to increase substantially the subvention paid through the health boards to assist patients in meeting the cost of nursing home care. There is an urgent need to eliminate the grossly discriminatory funding system which the State imposes on the dependent elderly.
The facts speak for themselves. The State recognises the cost of providing proper standards of care in State run nursing homes, at an average of £500 per week. As the current levels of subvention payments indicate, the State does not recognise that the same costs exist in private nursing homes. It is obvious the subvention was never intended to cover the full cost of maintenance of the elderly in home care. However, given that there has been no increase in these subventions since 1993, it is essential that in 1999, the year of the elderly, the Minister responds positively and urgently. It is not too late for him to do this.
Discrimination towards the elderly is unacceptable. It costs an average of £250 per week to give care and maintenance to a patient in a private nursing home in the Western Health Board area, which includes County Galway. In the Eastern Health Board area, including Dublin, and the Southern Health Board area the charge is approximately £350. This is approximately £200 cheaper than a similar charge in a public nursing home. This discrimination must be eliminated as a matter of urgency.
In addition, throughout the country there are three levels of contribution, up to a maximum of approximately £120 per week. In most health board areas additional costs are given above this maximum arising from increased dependency levels. No such facility is provided in the Western Health Board area. This must be changed so that the elderly in County Galway and the Western Health Board area can be treated in the same way as those in the Eastern or Southern Health Boards areas. The maximum subvention, together with the pension of the elderly person, is inadequate and the savings, if any, and the property value of these people quickly becomes exhausted, causing increased and unnecessary anxiety. The pension plus the maximum subvention of £120 is the total amount available to a significant number of elderly people who wish to reside in private nursing homes. It is inadequate and there is no doubt many elderly are facing, or will face, this grossly unfair financial burden due to the failure of the Government to respond to elderly people in need of care and nursing.
The grossly unfair system denies the elderly members of our community the basic right of a choice of where to live in their final years. Many elderly people are terrified about the future and there is a lack of commitment to them on the part of the Government. What other group has endured a freeze in support since 1993? If we had a caring Government, surely the elderly would be the last group to face such a penalty.
Nursing staff working in private nursing homes cannot be paid the same rates as their colleagues in public hospitals, but their work is equally, if not more, demanding and difficult. The Minister has requested private nursing homes to provide places for patients being discharged from acute hospitals for convalescent care. This is an indication of the services provided by nursing homes to date. They are entitled to an adequate subvention. Now is the time to act and I urge the Minister, in this year of the elderly, to double the current subvention rates.
