Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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If, however, they went into a public nursing home, it would be costing a lot more anyway. If one is getting €1,000 under the fair deal scheme, and the nursing home says that it would require an extra €350 or €400 per week to look after this patient because they need more staff assigned to them, and a higher degree of care, why can we not? We would get an awful lot of people out of hospital far faster if we were prepared to have that flexibility with regard to trying to get people out of hospitals. If one is in a hospital bed, it is costing the State between €7,500 and €8,000 per bed per week. If they are in a step-down facility, at most it would be costing, in the private sector, €1,500 per bed, per week, so the logic is quite clear.