John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 171: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties being experienced where nursing home subvention does not match charges being presented by private nursing homes and the delays being experienced by patients who have to lodge an appeal; if she will streamline the system to ensure an automatic top up payment is examined based on the income details supplied with the original application, which is not the case in Waterford at present. [27869/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The Nursing Home (Subvention) Regulations, 1993 are administered by the Health Service Executive. There are currently three rates of subvention payable, i.e. €114.30, €152.40 and €190.50 for the three levels of dependency which are medium, high and maximum. Additional funding of €20 million was provided for the administration of the Nursing Home Subvention Scheme in 2006, bringing the total available budget to €161 million. The €20 million is to support more basic nursing home subventions and reduce waiting lists for enhanced subventions: it is also to bring more consistency to subventions support throughout the country. The Deputy may wish to know that the Nursing Home Subvention scheme was never intended to cover the full cost of a private nursing home bed.

The HSE has discretion to pay more than the maximum rate of subvention relative to an individual's level of dependency in a case, for example, where personal funds are exhausted. The application of these provisions in an individual case is a matter for the HSE in the context of meeting increasing demands for subvention, subject to the provisions of the Health Act, 2004. The average rate of subvention paid by the HSE generally exceeds the current approved basic rates. The supports paid by the HSE vary from person to person and region to region, depending on prices for example.

The recently published Health (Nursing Homes)(Amendment) Bill 2006 is designed to ensure that the existing subvention scheme for private nursing home care is grounded in primary legislation and to help the HSE to implement the scheme on a standardised basis across the country. In addition, national guidelines on nursing home subvention are currently being developed by the HSE to ensure an even and equitable application of the regulations nationally.