Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 February 2023
104. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure, without further delay, that there is equal treatment of private nursing homes in relation to subvention payments as the present system is unfair and is causing serious difficulties for some small-scale nursing home providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7649/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Department acknowledges that there are differences in the cost of care between public and private nursing homes.
Maximum prices for individual nursing homes are agreed with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) following negotiations and based on the NTPF’s cost criteria such as costs reasonably incurred by the nursing home, local market prices, historic prices and overall budgetary capacity. The NTPF has statutory independence in this process.
Rates for public nursing homes are set based on historic costs and available resources, according to a list of eligible expense categories agreed by the Oireachtas.
The cost for the resident does not change whether they are in a public or a private home.
The Value for Money (VFM) review published in 2021 report clearly showed that this cost differential is driven by a higher level of staffing in public nursing homes, with a higher nursing ratio per resident and a different skill mix to private nursing homes. The HSE is staffed at a level that allows delivery of more complex care where required, according to its responsibility as provider of last resort.
The review made 9 recommendations, including agreement of the safe staffing and skill mix framework, rollout of the InterRAI tool for assessing dependency, and a review and audit of certain public nursing homes. The Department is taking these forward.
