Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I listened closely to what Deputy Connaughton had to say and I know that in setting up the HSE the intention was to have uniformity in the delivery of services throughout the country. He made a case with regard to subvention and how it works in his area. I will take on board what he said and report back to the Deputy in the near future on it.

Some €8 million is being provided to cover the cost of 250 extra nursing home beds which the HSE is in the process of sourcing from private nursing homes.

Regulations have been made recently to ensure the assessment criteria for subventions, which have not been updated since 1993, reflect the major changes in property values. The property ceiling that was set at £75,000, approximately €95,000, in the 1993 nursing home subvention regulations is being increased, having regard to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government house price indices, to €500,000 for Dublin and €300,000 for the rest of the country. The assets ceiling is also being increased to €36,000 from the previous £20,000. Previously, the first £6,000 or €7,618 of an applicant's assets would be disregarded when applying for a subvention. This is now being increased to €11,000.

Specialist palliative care is another area we dealt with in the budget. In addition to services for older people, €9 million was provided in the budget day package for specialist palliative care, including home care and community initiatives in 2006. This allocation includes funding for 24 additional extended care beds in Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross. A further €4 million is being allocated in 2007 to develop palliative care services, giving a full year cost of €13 million.

It is clear from the budget day package that the Government is firmly committed to developing services for our older people. The emphasis on developing home care packages and the increases in the home help and meals on wheels schemes and other community based supports will aid older people to remain in their own homes and communities for longer, in accordance with their wishes. Additional funding has been provided to the nursing home subvention scheme to go towards supporting the increasing numbers entitled to subvention and to reduce waiting lists for enhanced subvention.

Following on the publication of the Mercer report on the future financing of long-term care in Ireland, a working group, chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprising senior officials from the Departments of Finance, Health and Children and Social and Family Affairs, was established. The objective of this group was to identify the policy options for a financially sustainable system of long-term care, taking account of the Mercer report, the views of the consultation that was undertaken on that report and the review of the nursing home subvention scheme by Professor Eamon O'Shea. The report of the group has been completed and was recently submitted to Government.

In terms of staffing resources for a statutory inspectorate, this would have to be explored by the stakeholders in the overall context of ensuring that standards are met and that health service staff are utilised in the most effective way.

It is clear to the House from what I have outlined that the Government's commitment to older people cannot be denied. The focus is on supporting older people in their homes and communities for as long as possible and at the same time supporting those who require residential care if the time comes that such is the most appropriate care required. The Government is committed to ensuring high quality care to all older people in public, private and voluntary nursing homes and is working towards having the best standards and inspection processes in place to achieve this. We acknowledge that we must continue to develop policy in this area to meet the growing demand for services and that we cannot be complacent in this regard.

We gave commitments in the House about bringing forward legislation and I have outlined the stage at which we are with regard to that legislation. We intend to bring it forward. It has not happened as quickly as we would want, but we are committed to bringing it ——

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