REACTION:MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney says the Government "strongly refutes" the allegation by the ombudsman that either she or her department failed to co- operate with the investigation into nursing home provision.
In a statement, Ms Harney said that her department had made it clear from the outset of the investigation, having consulted the Attorney General, that “it could not accept that a number of areas of the proposed investigation came within the ambit of the Ombudsman Act 1980”.
On the question of nursing home entitlements, she said: “The Government is not aware of any country in the world where health and personal social services are provided without some form of prioritisation which reflects the reality of resource limitations.”
She said the Fair Deal scheme ensured that those in need of long-term nursing home care received “an equal level of State support whether they are in a public or private nursing home”.
Advocacy body Age Action said that the subject matter at the heart of the report had “long been an issue of contention for older people”.
Chief executive Robin Webster said it was, in effect, “the most prolonged case of financial elder abuse by the State”.