Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tánaiste, for many years there has been an unfair and unacceptable divergence in the rates of subvention made to different private nursing homes. This affects small nursing homes in rural areas in constituencies such as that which I represent, Cavan-Monaghan. The Department of Health, the HSE, and the National Treatment Purchase Fund have not listened to the very reasoned claims of smaller scale nursing home providers. These nursing homes need additional financial support without further delay. Decision-makers should be cognisant of the exit of a substantial number of smaller scale providers and the fact that more control of this sector is now being exercised by major companies, some of which are international. If that trend continues, we can be sure that those big companies will develop larger nursing homes in the bigger towns and that rural communities and smaller towns will lose nursing home facilities. That would be most regrettable. The typical family run nursing home is an essential healthcare provider and must be protected for the long-term good of the sector and, most importantly, the patients involved.

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