Dáil debates
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Nursing Homes Support Scheme
8:00 pm
Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
I ask the Minister for Health and Children to clarify matters causing confusion around the operation of the fair deal scheme as it operates with nursing homes and to allay fears that a transition will leave patients and their families without financial cover at that time. Will the Minister clarify the uniformity of operation of the scheme through the HSE? Patients have been told that they will not be covered under the scheme until assessments are complete, and then only from the date of approval, which by implication could cost them six weeks billing, which the patients and families may be unable to meet. Will the Minister give direction in the matter?
I am effectively asking the Minister for Health and Children to clarify the confusion surrounding the operation of the fair deal scheme and to allay fears that the transition from hospital to home will leave patients and their families without financial cover. I am also asking her for clarity and uniformity to be applied in the operation of the scheme by the HSE. Will she confirm that no patient admitted on a doctor's advice will have to wait until the medical assessment before proceeding? If a discharged patient has to be readmitted after four months, will a previous approval be used? This was the case when a patient was readmitted under the subvention scheme. When a patient is admitted as an emergency to a nursing home, will the scheme apply from the time of the emergency, providing an application is lodged on the same day?
Last week families in counties Roscommon and Leitrim had great difficulty in getting definitive information from the local HSE office. A member of a family was treated for a serious illness in Sligo General Hospital and got two weeks of nursing home care under the winter initiative. The patient was confined to bed and without a doubt needed full-time nursing home care. When the family applied for nursing home subvention under the fair deal scheme, they were informed that financial assistance would not be available until medical assessment was carried out by the HSE medical team.
They were also informed that cover would only commence from the date of approval following medical assessment, which could take weeks and result in a massive nursing home bill that the family would be unable to meet. When I pointed out that the process could take several weeks I was told that under the new scheme, families will be liable for far more costs than under the subvention scheme.
Will patients be able to transfer automatically from the subvention scheme to the fair deal scheme or will they have to be assessed again? There is much confusion and many people in local areas are interpreting rules in different ways. There is significant confusion. When we contacted the Minister for Health and Children's office we were told there is no difficulty but on the ground there is much confusion. Is the problem with the Department or in the way local offices are interpreting the rules? The confusion must be cleared up.
Margo O'Connell
Posted on 7 Dec 2009 10:45 am (Report this comment)
Frank is correct in saying that there is a lot of confusion out there. The HSE staff are telling people that the scheme only pays for nursing home from the date of approval. Are they confused or are they being misinformed. My Aunt suffered a stroke a month ago, and is currently in st. camillus hospital limerick. She is due to be discharged since last wednesday. The family has applied for the new scheme since Thursday 26th Nov. They have been told that it will take a minimum of 8 weeks to process the application, even without applying for the loan scheme. All asset valuation have been submitted and the hospital have said that all medical assessments have been completed.
The hospital are adament that my aunt be removed. They did delay her discharge last Friday because she was refused a week of nursing home care under the winter initiative. The HSE said the fair deal scheme has replaced all the old schemes.
There is a bed waiting in a suitable nursing home for my aunt, but who is going to pay the eight week waiting period. At the moment she is due to be discharged today. The family will have to take a loan to cover the 650euro a week payable on top of my aunt's pension.
If what Aine Brady says is true then why is the HSE giving out incorrect information. Or are they taking the 'SUBJECT TO OVERALL RESOURCES' as a way of saving some money, and putting the families of sick people under more stress than they are allready under.
Quote from Aine Brady's speech (For new entrants to nursing home care, the HSE's guidelines on the standardised implementation of the scheme state THAT SUBJECT TO OVERALL RESOURCES, people who enter nursing homes after the commencement of the scheme will have their financial support paid either from the date that the application was made or from date of admission to the nursing home, whichever is the later.)
This has to be clarified immediatly. It is putting families under immense stress. It is also holding up the supply of hospital beds. This scheme was devised to sort out this problem, so why has someone made a mess of it. THe old scheme was always backdated to the date of application or date of entry to the nursing home, so why the change now?