Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity of raising this very important issue. It is somewhat related to the issue raised by Deputy Breen but concerns payments. This scheme was hailed as being great and in theory it could be. However, the reality is that it is not working. Regardless of whether we like it, there are significant issues, and I am only speaking for south Tipperary, where many constituents have come to me about the delay in payment.

These people, some of whom are on very low incomes, are frustrated and may have to borrow money from credit unions or seek supplementary welfare sources in order to keep going. They have to pay for services that should be provided by the HSE. There is a second issue concerning people in hospitals and accident and emergency departments who are being held up as a result of payments not going through. Down the line such people cannot get into nursing homes.

There are significant delays causing desperate concern to those in the system. I spoke to a medic recently who said the fair deal scheme is causing chaos in the health service. The Government must deal with the issues arising from that. Deputies trying to help their constituents have the difficulty of officials in the HSE who are not even prepared to answer our questions. The matter should be examined.

A small portion of the population, some 4%, requires nursing home care and we should look after these people, who made a commitment to society through the years. Some of them are at the end of their days and others are very ill as a result of sickness which may have struck them down. The current position is unfair and having such a non-functioning scheme is a poor response from any government or Minister. We were promised the sun, moon and stars when the scheme was first announced. It was spoken about for many years but although we are assessing people, no payment is being made in many cases. I hope the Minister of State will have something relevant in his response. It is a desperate issue for many people.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am replying to this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I thank Deputy Hayes for raising the issue.

As they Deputy is aware, the nursing homes support scheme commenced on 27 October and the HSE is now processing applications under the scheme. The scheme is administered, and applications are processed, in accordance with the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act 2009 and the HSE's guidelines on the standardised implementation of the nursing homes support scheme, which were approved by the Minister for Health and Children. This framework ensures a consistent approach across the HSE in the processing of applications.

The HSE has indicated that the normal timelines for processing applications and making a determination regarding financial support can be expected to vary according to individual circumstances and complexities. It is estimated in cases where the submitted application is fully and correctly completed that a straightforward application for State support should take one to two weeks and a straightforward application for ancillary State support, or the nursing home loan as it is commonly known, should take three to four weeks.

Since the introduction of the scheme, the HSE has had to deal with a large volume of applications from both existing residents and new entrants. However, this should not impact negatively on existing residents due to the safeguards provided within the primary legislation. The legislation provides that applicants to the scheme who were in nursing home care on the date the scheme commenced shall have their State support backdated to that date.

Furthermore, anyone who was in receipt of subvention prior to the commencement of the scheme continues to have his or her subvention paid while his or her application is being processed. Once the application has been determined, the backdated State support will be netted off against the subvention already paid. In practice, this means people will not be paid twice for the same care but will have State support paid from 27 October 2009.

For new entrants to nursing home care, the HSE's guidelines on the standardised implementation of the scheme state that, subject to overall resources, people who enter nursing homes after the commencement of the scheme will have their financial support paid either from the date the application was made or from the date of admission to the nursing home, whichever is the later.

The HSE estimates that it has received more than 9,000 applications and that it has processed approximately half of these to date. In addition, more than 1,000 applications for ancillary State support have been received, of which more than 600 have been completed. I am aware that the processing of a number of applications may have taken longer than the timeframes quoted above. It should be remembered that these estimates of the time taken to process applications apply to straightforward applications that have been completed fully with all the necessary information supplied. It can be expected that more complex applications and those where all the necessary information has not been supplied will take longer to process.

Unfortunately, due to the current industrial action as mentioned by the Deputy, this is the most up-to-date information available to me. I regret that l do not have any more information at present but if the Deputy wishes to raise this matter again once the current industrial action has ceased, I will endeavour to have the matter re-examined at that stage.