John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the nursing home support scheme. There are outrageous delays in securing funding for elderly people discharged from hospitals to nursing homes. In my own county there are 15 week delays in securing funding for a nursing home. Whereas the hospital funds the first four weeks, the person has to wait for 11 weeks without funding and when it is granted, there is no retrospective payment. This is a crisis for many families. In rural Ireland, elderly people have to come up with between €7,000 and 8,000 to fund that period for which they do not receive HSE funding. I am sure the cost could be double that amount in the capital city. I ask the Leader to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and ask him to put funding in place from 1 January 2015 to clear all the waiting lists into future in order that there are no delays in proving funding for the elderly. Given that we have an ageing population, once they go into nursing homes, funding should be available from day one.