Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise again the ongoing scandal of residents in nursing homes under the fair deal scheme being charged for items that are covered by the medical card. I raised this with the Secretary General of the Department at the Committee of Public Accounts more than a year ago, I raised it with senior management of the HSE and I raised it with the Minister, and still nothing. I have received a reply to a freedom of information request that revealed internal discussions within the HSE following on from my raising it at the Committee of Public Accounts. The assistant national director of the primary care reimbursement service stated that a clause could be put into the contract of the nursing home with the requirement not to charge. He said that would place a legal responsibility on funded nursing homes and residential care facilities not to charge.

People are being ripped off monthly and weekly. Residents and their families, when they raise this issue, are being told, “You can take them home or you can go elsewhere.”

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