RESIDENTS BEING moved from public nursing homes due to closures will be allowed “move together, so that relationships can be maintained”, the Minister for Health has said.
Dr James Reilly said he did not want to have to close public nursing homes, but some would “unfortunately” have to be shut.
There are currently 5,880 long-stay public beds in units around the State. The cost per patient per day is €1,350-€1,400 and up to €1,800 in some smaller units, according to figures released last week at the Oireachtas Health Committee. Under the Fair Deal scheme, the equivalent cost in a private nursing home is €850.
Speaking yesterday on RTÉ Radio One, Dr Reilly said he was a believer in public nursing home provision, but costs needed to be addressed. Nursing homes would have to close, he said, though he did not outline which homes were being considered. Where closures happened he wanted to see “communities kept together”.
“I don’t want people who have lived together for five, 10 or 15 years disrupted; the option will be made available to them to move together so that relationships can be maintained,” he said.
The moratorium on staffing, budgetary constraints and Health Information and Quality Authority standards were hitting nursing homes hard, he said, adding it would cost €600 million to bring all the homes up to standard.
The Minister denied there had been deliberate delays in the processing of medical card applications in recent months. He said 80 per cent of applications were being dealt with within 15 working days and “by the end of next month” the figure would be “well into the high 90s”.
There were occasional delays in renewals, but in those cases applicants were not losing their cards until the process was determined.
Dr Reilly refused to be drawn on whether he would introduce a proposed €50 charge for medical card holders or increase prescription charges, citing Cabinet confidentiality. But he defended his decision to inform backbenchers the charges were under consideration.
He said the health budget would be “€300 million into the red” going into the New Year, without taking into account the implications of VAT increases, which could cost €50 million, and €160 million for demand-led schemes such as medical cards.
In a pre-Budget submission, Retail Ireland set out its firm opposition to any move to shift the cost of sick pay away from the Department of Social Protection and onto businesses. It said the Government must take action to tackle diesel laundering and tobacco smuggling, and called for no increase in excise duty, especially in light of the Government’s decision to increase VAT by 2 per cent.
The Automobile Association has said the 2 per cent rise in VAT would add 2.5 cent to the cost of a litre of petrol, while an anticipated rise in carbon tax of at least €5 per tonne will add another 1.5 cent.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said the Budget “may not be as bad as people expect” as there would be no increase in income tax and therefore no cut in core pay.