Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Daly for raising this matter. I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is abroad on Government business.

The Kenmare community nursing unit was opened in 2013. It replaced the existing 24-bed residential unit with a new facility which includes 40 residential beds, a mental health day care centre and a new ambulance base for the locality. The new unit provides an improved and enhanced environment for residents in which the strong local tradition of caring for the elderly can continue to flourish. When the stage is reached where an older person can no longer remain at home, the State provides financial support through the nursing homes support scheme for those who need long-term residential care. The scheme aims to ensure long-term nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings. The scheme is currently the subject of a review. This review is considering the scheme's long-term sustainability as well as looking at how well the current model of provision is balancing residential care with care in the community and whether this needs to be adjusted to better reflect what older people want.

Following registration with HIQA in June 2013, Kenmare community care unit opened on a phased basis, with the first phase being the transfer of the inpatient service within existing resources. The HSE Cork and Kerry community health organisation is carrying out a review of services in the Kerry community hospitals. The review of Kenmare community hospital will consider the requirement for both long-stay and short-stay residential beds. Following this review, HSE management in Kerry will be in a position to consider the viability of opening and funding additional beds in Kenmare community hospital, particularly through funding from the nursing home support scheme.

The collection of data for the review of services began on 9 January and concluded yesterday. A preliminary analysis of the data collected to date about short-stay bed availability in County Kerry has indicated that during the months of January to June, there was no evidence of a deficit in the number of short-stay beds available to meet requests for admission to these beds. Kenmare community hospital currently has two short-stay beds vacant. All the long-stay beds in the hospital are currently occupied. A final report on the bed requirements at Kenmare community hospital will be completed and available at the end of this month. The HSE will continue to explore how the additional beds in Kenmare community hospital can best be utilised to meet the needs of the wider community.