Vol. 554 No. 5
896 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will intervene in a situation where the daughter of a person (details supplied) in County Cork has applied for a nursing home subvention and has been told that she will have to wait for about a year for a decision on their enhanced subvention application. [15412/02]
The Nursing Homes (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, are administered by the health boards and the Eastern Regional Health Authority. There are currently three maximum rates of subvention payable –€114.30, €152.40, €190.50 – in accordance with three levels of dependency – medium, high, maximum – which are eligible for subvention.
As the Deputy is aware, sections 22.3 and 22.4 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, allow health boards the discretion to contract beds in private nursing homes and to pay more than the maximum rates of subvention in such cases. However, the application of these provisions is a matter for each health board in the context of meeting the requirements of the subvention scheme within the board's revenue allocation as notified annually in the letters of determination. This is in keeping with the provisions of the Health (Amendment) (No. 3) Act, 1996.
In 1997, the funding available for the scheme was £27 million; in 2001, the sum was £52 million; and in 2002 the funding available is £72 million-€91.4 million. In recognition of the issues involved, my Department made significant additional resources of over £1.2 million €1.5 million available to the Southern Health Board at the end of 2001.
The Southern Health Board has received a significantly increased number of claims from patients for enhanced payments in accordance with sections 22.3 and 22.4. It is a matter for the board to determine the extent to which it can meet such claims consistent with its requirement to live within its overall revenue allocation and taking account of the fact that such enhanced payments are discretionary. However, in the interest of avoiding hardship to individual patients, my Department has been in regular contact with the board in an effort to find a solution which would take cognisance of the considerations outlined above. This solution involves the payment of enhanced subventions on quite a significant scale. In this context it should be noted that the Southern Health Board received an additional €4.24 million this year including a sum of €2.641 million to respond to extra pressures on the scheme.
In relation to the case mentioned by the Deputy, as responsibility for the provision of health services in the Cork area rests with the Southern Health Board, my Department has asked the chief executive officer of the board to investigate the matter raised by the Deputy and reply to him directly.
