The Department's policy on providing adequate services for patients suffering from dementia is as set out in the report, An Action Plan for Dementia, published by the National Council on Ageing and Older People in 1999. This commitment is endorsed in the 2001 health strategy.
A number of initiatives have been taken in relation to the improvement of services to those suffering from dementia. Significant additional funding has been made available for the express purpose of providing assistance to carers, including carers of Alzheimer-dementia sufferers. Additional funding has been made available to the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland for expansion of its services, particularly day care services. A number of new community nursing units of older people, which have been constructed in recent years, provide respite and day care for people with dementia.
As the Deputy will be aware, a working group, comprising of all stakeholders, has been established by my Department to review the Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990 and associated regulations. This follows on from the publication of Professor Eamon O'Shea's report, Review of the Nursing Home Subvention Scheme, and the Mercer report on the future financing of long term care in Ireland, which was commissioned by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The review will also take into account issues arising from the interpretation of certain aspects of the 1990 Act and regulations which have arisen over the years and the ombudsman's report on the operation of the scheme.
Under the terms of section 22.3 and 22.4 of the Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, a health board may, at its discretion, pay more than the maximum rate of subvention in particular circumstances such as, for example, where an individual's personal funds are exhausted or where an individual is unable to meet the gap between the nursing home charge and the amount which he-she can contribute. The application of these provisions is a matter for the individual health board concerned in the context of meeting increasing demands for subvention within the board's revenue allocation as notified in the Letter of Determination. This is in keeping with the provisions of the Health (Amendment) (No 3) Act 1996.
