Ms Anne O'Connor:

While we are waiting to connect to the other witnesses, I will continue. We have published the 2020 cost of care. The important thing about cost of care is that it does not impact on the contribution from residents. Sometimes there is a perception that the cost of care can affect the payment by residents in nursing homes, but it does not. That is calculated in a different way.

On the challenge around the system, the cost of care is calculated on a range of different factors. In the absence of a single integrated financial system we are reliant, as we are in many other areas in the HSE, on gathering through all sorts of different mechanisms the costs of specific things in different locations, even the costs in different geographies. We do not have a single system across the country. Capturing costs on a geographical basis on a single national rate can be very challenging for us. The integrated system can impact on our ability to give a standardised view of cost in relation to everything, including this.