THE GOVERNMENT has instructed the Health Service Executive (HSE) to divert millions of euro set aside for the planned "fair deal" scheme on funding long-term nursing home care into other areas of health spending. CARL O'BRIEN & MARTIN WALLreport
This follows a series of major constitutional problems which have stalled progress on the scheme due to come into force last January.
Nursing home operators say the delays are causing confusion and uncertainty among nursing home owners, residents and families who had been planning their finances around the introduction of the scheme in January of this year.
A total of €110 million was set aside to implement the "fair deal", which will replace the current nursing home subvention scheme by levying charges on the estates of older people after their death.
However, the plan has been beset by legal obstacles, in particular constitutional issues regarding the right to property, which have delayed the "fair deal" scheme indefinitely.
Informed sources say the legal issues are being dealt with at the highest level in the Attorney General's office, and at least 10 drafts of the Bill have been produced, without any indication yet that the legal problems will be resolved.
The Department of Health confirmed yesterday that a Bill which will provide for the new scheme is still being examined by the Attorney General's office.
However, it was unable to say when it will be published. In the meantime, the HSE has started spending some of the €110 million for the scheme on contracting at least 100 private nursing home beds for public use.
The delay in finalising the scheme - first announced almost 1½ years ago - will come as an embarrassment to Minister for Health Mary Harney, who has identified reform of nursing home support as a major priority.
The chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland, Tadhg Daly, said: "We're basically looking for some kind of certainty that this is going to happen.
"The current system is inequitable and there was a lot of hope we would have a fairer scheme of support in place by now."
Other groups such as Age Action have expressed concern over aspects of the "fair deal" plans, in particular what it describes as the "erosion" of the entitlement to State-funded long-term care in public nursing homes.
Opposition parties are likely to question why the Government did not ensure the "fair deal" scheme was legally sound before formally agreeing it at Cabinet several months ago.
The Government was just days away from publishing the Bill in December last year, when officials became aware of major legal issues. It was later postponed to January - however this target was also missed.
About 20,000 people are in nursing home care in the State in both private and public long-stay units.
Under the "fair deal" plan, which will affect those in public and private beds, those in need of nursing home care would pay a maximum of 80 per cent of their disposable income towards their nursing home costs, while the State would pay the balance. The State will also apply a levy of up to 15 per cent on the value of a resident's estate after their death.