Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am also delighted to have the opportunity to address the House on Second Stage of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which was published in January.

As Minister of State for mental health and older people, I am particularly pleased about the provisions in sections 6 to 8, inclusive, in Part 3 of the Bill to amend the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009. As the Minister, Deputy Harris, pointed out, this is a critically important provision for many of our senior citizens as it will exempt payments made to persons under the ex gratiaschemes approved by Government from being included in the assessment for support under the nursing home support scheme. This provision applies to persons who have received awards under four schemes, namely, the surgical symphysiotomy payment scheme, payments to the 32 Irish survivors of thalidomide, the Lourdes Hospital Redress Board and the Lourdes Hospital payment scheme. I am particularly pleased that the Bill provides for the Minister to make regulations to allow for this exemption for other similar groups that may in future receive ex gratiaawards where the Government has approved the schemes.

Any individual who has received an ex gratiapayment under the Government approved scheme has experienced much pain and suffering in their lives. It is an extremely important principle that these same people, on reaching a more senior stage in their lives, should not be in any way disadvantaged financially when it comes to making an application under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act or the fair deal scheme, as it is more widely known. The nursing homes support schemeis an important scheme that provides financial support for those in need of long-term nursing home care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means, while the State pays the balance of the cost. The scheme aims to ensure that long-term nursing is accessible and affordable to everyone, and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings. The cost of the standard components of residential care is covered by the scheme, including all appropriate nursing and personal care, and any basic aids and appliances that are required by residents. It is an extremely important scheme, therefore, for many older people. To put it in context, at the end of August 2016, the scheme was supporting in excess of 23,000 older citizens in nursing home care. The net budget for the scheme this year is €940 million, which represents an increase of €43.1 million on the 2015 outturn.

All applicants to the scheme must undergo a financial assessment which is carried out by the Health Service Executive, HSE. That determines how much the participant in the scheme will contribute to the cost of their care. The scheme has a number of important safeguards built into the financial assessment to ensure that nobody will pay more than the actual cost of care and to ensure an applicant will keep a personal allowance of 20% of his or her income or 20% of the maximum rate of the State pension, whichever is greater.In addition, the Bill provides a statutory basis to exclude the ex gratiapayment for the purposes of the HSE assessment of income for the nursing homes support scheme.It should also be noted that a person's eligibility for other State schemes such as the medical card scheme or the drugs payment card scheme are unaffected by participation in the nursing homes support schemeor residence in a nursing home.

The Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill is important legislation that includes key age-related provisions in respect of persons who have received ex gratiaawards and who now in their older years are seeking supports under the nursing homes support scheme. The Bill also proposes valuable changes to a total of four Acts to ensure equity in the case of older persons, and in the case of tobacco, drugs and medicines, to help protect public health. I hope the Deputies will support this important Bill and I look forward to the debate.

I endorse what my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Harris, said and I commend the Bill to the House.

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