Mary Moran (Labour)

I, too, welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, to the Chamber. When introduced, the nursing home support scheme was seen as a solution to a long term problem and an ongoing concern for older people and their families. The former Minister for Health and Children, Ms Harney, stated that it was designed to be accessible, affordable and anxiety free. However, less than two years later the fair deal scheme is in crisis. Undoubtedly, the scheme serves an important function. Under the fair deal scheme, there are currently 11,836 people in receipt of State support towards the cost of care in private nursing homes while a further 4,225 people remain on subvention or in contract beds. Approximately 6,400 people are in public beds in public nursing homes, bringing the total number of people in receipt of support to more than 22,000.

The budget for the scheme is more than €1 billion. As Senator Colm Burke stated earlier, currently 11% of our population are aged over 65 years. We need to plan ahead for the next twenty years when the situation will be grossly different. One can only imagine the worry experienced by older people and their families when they heard the fair deal scheme might be in trouble. This situation must be clarified quickly. Reports in the media state that funding for the scheme has run out. However, the HSE has confirmed that nothing will change for those people already funded. New applications will continue to be accepted and processed. However, alarmingly, the HSE has added that approval for new applicants is subject to the availability of funding, a constant cause for concern.

Older people are also concerned - I have received several queries in this regard in recent days - that if the funding is not available, the scheme will be closed to new applicants? Will we be back to the days of waiting lists? Are there other options available to older people and their families? While there are, none are appropriate. Senator Quinn referred to assisted living. There is an excellent assisted living system in Dundalk called the Great Northern Haven. It comprises 16 houses and is a collaboration between Louth County Council, Dundalk town council, the HSE north-east and Dundalk Institute of Technology. It utilises cutting edge technologies to enable older people to live independently for longer, which is the aim of all of us.

Older people have asked me if they will have to wait for a bed to become available or if they will be left with the stark choice of having to pay the full cost of private nursing home care, at a cost of more than €1,200 per week in some cases, which is clearly not affordable for the vast majority of our citizens.

There is also a concern that many of our older people will end up inappropriately placed in hospital, which is unacceptable and also results in further pressure being placed on the already stretched health system.

At this point, I refer to a case with which I am dealing where an elderly lady, despite trying to live independently for as long as possible, has now reconciled herself to the fact that she requires nursing home care. It is traumatic for any family to accept that the time has come to place a loved one in a nursing home. This lady applied under the fair deal scheme last September, went through the rigorous application process and was approved in February of this year, when she was told she had ten days to find a nursing home.

We have all been in such situations. As a parent, I tried recently to get an appointment with a paediatrician for one of my children and was told that, whether under the public or private system, my child would not see a paediatrician until the middle of September, which I find totally unacceptable. In this case, the lady was told she had ten days to find a nursing home. When one makes the decision, one must look into it and make sure the nursing home is suitable for the person and suitable in terms of transport to visit a loved one. At the beginning of May, this lady's family finally found a nursing home which was suitable for her and for all the family. The nursing home staff came out and assessed the lady, and everybody was perfectly happy with the situation. The family went back to the HSE to be told they had gone over the ten days, had lost their place in the queue and that the process had to start again. In the meanwhile, the decision was taken not to process any more applications so this lady, like so many others, is left in limbo. This issue needs to be urgently addressed.

While there is plenty more I would like to say, I am conscious of the time constraints. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House and wish her continued success in her ministerial role.