Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 32 together.

The Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006 provides a legal framework to repay recoverable health charges for publicly-funded long-term care. The Health Service Executive, HSE, has advised that as of 16 May 2008, more than 14,000 offers of repayment totalling more than €250 million have been made. Further offers continue to be issued every week. As a result of these offers, almost 10,500 payments worth in excess of €200 million have been made. The HSE has indicated that the time taken to process each application varies depending on the complexity of the application and the availability of accurate records. Every effort is being made to complete repayments as quickly as possible. However, there have been some delays in making repayments under the scheme due to legal and technical issues.

A very high number of deficiencies have appeared on claim forms and these must each be rectified before claims can be processed. These claims have taken longer to process because the scheme administrator must be provided with certain information in order to ensure that the correct amount is repaid to the correct person. The scheme administrator and the HSE have taken a proactive role in clearing these deficient claim forms. They have conducted an intensive roadshow campaign throughout the country in order to address these issues. This campaign was widely promoted through advertising on local radio and in regional media.

More than 12,000 estates which lodged claims to date had not extracted a grant of representation in respect of the estate of the deceased patient. In these instances, the person entitled to extract the grant of representation must be identified before an application can be processed. To date, more than 11,000 certificates of entitlement permitting individuals to apply for repayments have issued. The scheme administrator is confident that the majority of claims submitted by the public will be dealt with by the end of this month.

The health repayment scheme appeals office is independent and was established to provide an appeals service to those who wish to appeal decisions made by the scheme administrator. Following the establishment of the office, a temporary appeals officer was seconded from the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. Subsequently, a recruitment process was undertaken by the Public Appointments Service and a panel of appeals officers has been established. A second appeals officer is due to begin work shortly. In addition, four administrative staff have been appointed to support the current appeals officer.

Up to 23 May, the health repayment scheme appeals office had received 3,173 completed appeal forms. The appeals officer must investigate each of these independently and his investigations can require additional reviews by the HSE and the scheme administrator. Certain appeals present a high level of complexity. In addition, a high percentage of appellants have requested oral hearings. Up to the end of May, the appeals officer had completed 471 oral hearings at locations throughout the country. Up to 23 May, the appeals officer had carefully, thoroughly considered and assessed 1,293 appeals and issued decisions in respect of all of them.

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