Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Flaherty for raising this issue. Before I deal with the substantive issues raised, I wish to state categorically that when it comes to HIQA regulations I will never compromise. I will not apologise to anybody in the House for having regulations and standards in place. It is very important that we have oversight and that we have an organisation such as HIQA that can go into any long-term residential care facility to check that best practices and best supports are being provided to our older generations. As Deputy Flaherty has said, they built our country, and they served us in shops and the like. Just so there is absolutely no ambiguity, there will be no movement in relation to standards while I am the Minister of State.

The Government is keenly aware of the challenges that have been faced by the nursing home sector across the country over the last three years. These challenges have been exacerbated over recent months by the increases in energy costs and inflation costs due to volatile global conditions. It is a priority for me that we maintain nursing home provision in rural areas to ensure people can stay living close to their home communities when they need to enter residential care.

I have a budget to work within. My budget for 2022 was €1.4 billion for nursing home care. This is to support some 22,500 people to be able to afford to receive very good services in nursing homes and in community nursing units - public, private and voluntary. I must make sure this budget lasts from 1 January until 31 December every year. As a result, when somebody applies for the fair deal scheme to enter into a nursing home, I can ensure there is a four-week turnaround. Many Deputies who are here longer than me can remember a time when this was not the case. Only a few short years ago, when the budget ran out it took 12 weeks for somebody to access nursing home care. This is my first point.

The Government has provided substantial support to the private and voluntary nursing home sector over the pandemic, with more than €145 million in funding delivered through the temporary assistance payment scheme, TAPS, as well as other supports delivered directly through the HSE, including serial testing, the provision of personal protective equipment, PPE, and the deployment of expert response teams. The TAPS Covid-19 outbreak assistance has been extended to the end of this year. From 1 April 2020 to 31 October 2022, the provision of free PPE and oxygen continued at a cost of €70 million to private nursing homes and a cost of €2.5 million to voluntary nursing homes. This information is not really in the public domain and it needs to be acknowledged.

Further funding was secured in budget 2023 to fund increases in the nursing home support scheme, NHSS, budget. I have secured additional funding for the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, fair deal for 2023 to maintain services and manage inflationary increases. Just over €40 million has been secured for the NHSS, including pressures for next year. This will provide for an uplift in the maximum prices chargeable by private and voluntary nursing homes, as negotiated.

I recently put in place a new scheme, the temporary inflation payments scheme. This €10 million scheme, which has recently been opened to applications, has been established to support private and voluntary nursing homes with increases in their energy costs. It covers 75% of the year-on-year cost increases in energy and heating. I have backdated it to 1 July 2022. Each nursing home can claim €31,500 up to the end of December. I expect to extend that scheme into January.

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