Mr. Tadhg Daly:

Committee members have our statement and I do not propose to read it all. It is important to point out that 22,000 people reside in a home from home with our members nationwide. We provide in excess of 23,000 jobs in local communities throughout Ireland. Having high quality residential care is an essential part of the continuum of care for older people. Notwithstanding the point made by the previous speaker, rather than focus on only one area of care or state one service is better than another, we need to look at the continuum of care for older people to ensure the appropriate care is given at the appropriate time.

The fair deal scheme has been very successful from the point of view of older people themselves. As the former Minister stated, it is affordable, accessible and anxiety-free. However significant issues arise which must be addressed. With regard to the upcoming budget we agree with the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, who addressed the committee on 25 July and stated the scheme should remain ring-fenced and should follow the principles of money following the patient. Under the fair deal scheme, a person chooses to apply for the scheme based on his or her medical and social care needs. Those in nursing home care now are much more highly dependent and have much more complex care needs, which means there is a requirement for the scheme to remain protected on this basis.

An issue for our society with its ageing population is how we develop and fund the range of services we need for our ageing population. Residential care is but one element of this. One of our concerns is the significant pressure with regard to public units complying with physical environment and HIQA standards, but there has been little development. Our members will also be under some pressure in this regard. Given our ageing population there is a requirement on us, and committee members as policymakers, to examine how we will develop a range of services for older people.

In our pre-budget submission, we state the narrow definition of goods and services under the fair deal scheme should be reviewed. The definition of long-term residential care services includes bed and board, basic aids and appliances and nursing care, but does not consider the holistic care needs of the resident. Items such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and activities are excluded from the scheme, and from our point of view this beggars belief. We strongly argue the scheme should remain ring-fenced and should be adequately resourced to deal with waiting lists. On 9 July, the Minister told the committee that 777 people had been assessed as requiring nursing home care but were awaiting funding. We could speak about statistics all day, such as the number of delayed discharges.

Our submission includes proposals on developing new services in the immediate term. Our key point is on how we should work in partnership. It should not be about public versus private versus voluntary but about ensuring our society has the appropriate services for older people. We strongly argue there should be a forum on long-term residential care involving all players to ensure we address the growing needs of our older population.