I propose to take Questions Nos. 1586 and 1599 together.
In 2011, the gross budget for long-term residential care was €963m. The total gross budget for this year is €994.7m. This is effectively the budget for the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, however, pre-Nursing Homes Support Scheme arrangements must also be facilitated from within the subhead, i.e. people in contract beds, people who choose to remain on subvention and people who were in public nursing homes prior to the commencement of the Scheme.
Additional funding of €55 million was originally allocated to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme for 2012. However, the Minister subsequently decided to transfer €13 million of the €55 million for an initiative being developed by the Special Delivery Unit in 2012 to improve access to care and quality of care for the frail elderly, achieve better patient outcomes and experience as well as better value for money.
A further €5 million was transferred to Primary Care services to underpin overall government policy of shifting focus to primary and community services. Returns against the Vote and from HSE indicate spending within budget. On average, applications for the Scheme take between 4 to 6 weeks to process, from receipt of completed application to date of determination. Depending on the level of complexity of the individual case, processing of the application may take longer. For example, in cases where ancillary State support is sought, additional factors may impact on the timeframe, e.g. the HSE must establish title of a property before a decision can be made and establishing title can be a lengthy process in some cases.
At end-June there were 21,901 people in receipt of financial support for long-term nursing home care (an increase of 353 on the figure at end-2011). A further 914 people had been allocated funding, but were not yet in payment. There is nobody on the placement list waiting for funding to be allocated.