Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of increased charges for elderly and vulnerable people in nursing homes. It has come to my attention in recent weeks that many elderly people have been requested to pay extra money for services in nursing homes. We are all aware there is a fair deal system in place where people on basic social welfare pay 80% of their social welfare payment per week. That leaves elderly people in particular with a meagre €40 per week for themselves. It now seems that contracts signed in some cases a number of years ago, and also ahead of the new quality standards and regulations for nursing homes, are being revisited by people running nursing homes, and in the cases I have heard about elderly people are being asked for extra money to read the daily newspapers. That is a scandal and it must be addressed. Clarity must be brought to this matter because we are talking about the most vulnerable in society.

All of us here witnessed what happened and what was required to be done by Government to tidy up this entire area and it is working very well. Nursing homes are being run properly now but to think that elderly people are being asked for money, out of the meagre €40 per week that is left to them, to read the daily newspaper is unacceptable. I call on the Leader to request the Minister for Health to re-examine the contracts in place between nursing homes and the State and also to have an examination of the contracts representatives or the elderly people themselves signed when they went into nursing homes.

We all know how difficult it is to get somebody into a nursing home now. In some cases the person is given only one or two days notice. People are provided with forms, which they sign, only to discover in the small print that they must pay ridiculous charges for services that should have been included in the contract.

I am asking for the matter to be investigated. I ask the Leader to bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health as soon as possible.