John Kelly (Labour)

Over Christmas, I learned something new about the fair deal scheme, about which I have spoken in this House in the past. I was not aware of it. I have always referred to the scheme as an unfair deal. That is becoming more and more clear. It was brought to my attention once more over Christmas. In the past when somebody went into a nursing home the nursing home subvention was granted from the date of entry. Now, however, if a person needs to go into a nursing home and is placed in one, always granted there is a free bed, he or she must wait six, seven or eight weeks for the HSE to give approval for the fair deal scheme to kick in. When it does give that approval the subvention applies only from the approval date. Elderly people may enter a nursing home and be there for six to eight weeks before the HSE decides to pay the bill which means an elderly person may have to pay as much as €4,000, €5,000 or €6,000 that he or she may not have.

As a result of this measure, instead of going into a nursing home elderly people are deciding to get admitted to our county hospitals where they are clogging up the wards. In my own county the hospital is full of patients waiting to get beds in nursing homes. They are not leaving the hospitals until the beds are available and approved by the HSE which means admissions to the hospital are being clogged up.

I realise the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, deals with nursing homes but it is the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, who must be informed about what is going on because it is an enormous problem. The cost of care in our county hospitals is twice as much as the cost of a bed in a nursing home. That is another anomaly falling under the radar and the Minister needs to be informed. I call on the Leader either to pass that information to the Minister or to ask him to attend the Seanad to hear our concerns about the matter.