Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ensuring the welfare and safety of residents is secured when nursing homes close is the most important thing. They and their families remain the continued focus of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Maximum prices for individual nursing homes are agreed with the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, following negotiations based on NTPF cost criteria. It carries out this role independently and there is no role for Ministers or the Department in these negotiations.

Aside from the script from the Minister of State I genuinely think the NTPF needs to consider inflation, the cost of living and the crisis of retention in the sector. To be honest, while I know there is no role for Ministers in the NTPF, it would be great if it listened to Ministers and articulated the need to take on board the cost of living, inflation and the retention crisis. We know the biggest costs for nursing homes at the moment are food, energy and the wage retention.

However, the Department has made significant additional support available to nursing homes, predominantly through the €144 million paid out under the temporary assistance payment scheme. The scheme continues and will now be refocused towards supporting inflationary costs as well as helping nursing homes mitigate Covid-19. A budgetary uplift of €47 million has been secured for nursing home funding in 2023. That has to be welcomed. It is a positive indication of funding that will go into the NTPF and the workload the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has taken on to address this matter.

Given the importance of nursing homes and the NHSS to the wider health and social care sector, with a budget of over €1 billion and over 22,000 residents supported, it is essential that policy measures are examined with due care in order to ensure that Government objectives are delivered and to avoid unintended consequences. I will take what the Deputy said about step down facilities back to the Minister of State.

Perhaps we should be giving more respite beds to the nursing homes so that they can facilitate people in the community.

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