Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for dealing with this Commencement matter, which relates to the private nursing home sector. At present, there are over 23,500 people in private nursing home beds under the fair deal scheme. An issue has been raised with me by representatives of a number of private nursing homes regarding the fact that when the price is fixed - and it is fixed at different levels in different areas - there is no right of appeal for them. There is no process by which they can have the price that is fixed reviewed. They have concerns about this because private nursing homes would all have similar costs, including wages, insurance, heating and food but there is a variation in different parts of the country in the price that is set by the NTPF. The nursing homes do not have any mechanism available to them to have the price reviewed. It is in that context that I raise this matter and ask that an appeals process be put in place. I am not saying that everyone would be entitled to appeal but where there are reasonable grounds for an appeal, namely, that the price set does not take into account all of the issues faced by the nursing home on a day-to-day basis, an appeal should be possible.