Labour Party TD Ms Liz McManus today said that some health boards were guilty of robbing old-age pensioners.
Her comments are based on a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) that reprimands six health boards over delays in paying arrears to elderly patients in nursing homes. Ms McManus claims this raises "very serious questions about the level of management within the boards".
According to the C&AG report, the entitlement of a person to a Nursing Home Subvention depends on their level of dependency and on an assessment of their means.
It went on to say that: "Different interpretations of the regulations emerged between the Health Boards while legal advice received by the Department of Health and Children at the end of 1996 showed an incorrect interpretation of the regulations by six of the eight Health Boards.
"The effect of the incorrect interpretation was to reduce the amount of subvention towards the cost of maintaining eligible persons in Nursing Homes," it said.
The Labour TD said: "The health boards are guilty of robbing old age pensioners of their entitlement and, in some cases, are persisting in refusing to address this injustice.
"I will be seeking to have the Minister for Health and representatives of the health boards concerned appear before the Dáil Committee on Health and Children to account for their handling of this scandal," she said.
In 1998, the Department provided an additional £4 million to the six health boards to enable them to eliminate the arrears and provide other services to the elderly.
Earlier this year the ombudsman issued a report on his investigation into Nursing Home Subventions which established, among other things, that most health boards had not been applying the rules regarding means properly and had been slow to pay arrears to those who had been underpaid as a result of the misinterpretation.
