Liam Twomey
Ceist:70 Dr. Twomey asked the Minister for Health and Children if the maximum rate of subvention in the South Eastern Health Board is nearly half the maximum rate of subvention in the Southern Health Board region. [6701/03]
Written Answers - Nursing Home Subventions.
As the Deputy may be aware, under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990, health boards provide subventions to assist persons in meeting the costs of nursing home care. However, it was never intended that subventions would meet the full costs involved. Apart from arrangements entered into under article 22.3 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, which allows a health board enter into an arrangement with a private nursing home, the placement of a person in a private nursing home and the fees charged is a private arrangement between the nursing home and the individual resident.
A health board may pay more than the maximum rate of subvention relative to an individual's level of dependency, for example, in cases where personal funds are exhausted. Articles 22.3 and 22.4 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, 1993, permit health boards 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 the individual health board concerned in the context of meeting increasing demands for subventions 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.
The costs of private nursing home care vary throughout the country and these costs depend on the type of accommodation available, the number of nursing homes in a particular area, the availability of public long-stay beds, and the demand for nursing home beds in the area. Accordingly the maximum amount of enhanced subvention paid by health boards will also vary for the above mentioned reasons.
I am advised by the Southern Health Board that there are currently 518 people on a waiting list for enhanced subvention. Of these, 190 have already received an enhancement and are awaiting further enhancement, 174 are in receipt of basic subvention plus an additional allocation under article 10.6 and 154 are in receipt of basic subvention alone. There are currently 530 people in receipt of enhanced subvention and the average enhanced payment is €364.34 per week. This level of payment is significantly higher than that applying in a number of health board areas.
While total expenditure on the nursing home subvention scheme was just over €30 million in 1998, it will amount to almost €110 million in 2003, an increase of 267%.