David Norris (Independent)

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 14, subsection (8), lines 3 to 5, to delete all words from and including "that" in line 3 down to and including "lifetime." in line 5 and substitute the following:

"that it is likely the person will require care service for a period of not less than 30 consecutive days or periods in the aggregate amounting to not less than 30 days within a period of 12 consecutive months.".

This is to delete a certain number of words in subsection (8) and replace them with "that it is likely the person will require care service for a period of not less than 30 consecutive days or periods in the aggregate amounting to not less than 30 days within a period of 12 consecutive months".

I recollect the sense of this amendment. The intention of it is to ensure that immediate care is effected and that we reassess the situation where the Bill, as currently phrased, appears to assume that there will be a necessity for lifetime care. That closes the option of hope and optimism and the idea that there will be a rehabilitative element in nursing homes and after a brief stay a person may come out again. It is a rather grim assumption that people will have to stay in a nursing home for an extended period.

The phrase in the Bill to which the amendment refers reads:

Where the Executive receives a care needs assessment report in respect of a person, it shall, after considering the report as soon as practicable after its receipt, make a determination—(a) that the person needs care services, or (b) that the person does not need care services as it thinks appropriate in the circumstances of the case

My amendment would insert the phrase "that it is likely the person will require care service for a period of not less than 30 consecutive days or periods in the aggregate amounting to not less than 30 days".

The Bill as currently framed reads, "as it thinks appropriate in the circumstances of the case, and where the Executive determines that the person needs care services, the Executive may also make a determination that it is unlikely that the person will ever cease to require care services during the person's lifetime." The offending phrase is "that it is unlikely that the person will ever cease to require care services during the person's lifetime". It is like a deferred death sentence as far as I am concerned and the phrasing provided by me, that is, "that it is likely the person will require care service for a period of not less than 30 consecutive days or periods in the aggregate amounting to not less than 30 days" and so on is a much more open approach to this difficult and complex situation.