Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 236: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when payment will be issued to patients and their families who are due moneys under the nursing home refund scheme; if she will appoint a person in each long stay institution to deal with queries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43677/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health (Repayment Scheme) Act 2006 provides a clear legal framework to repay recoverable health charges for publicly funded long term residential care. All those fully eligible persons who were wrongly charged and are alive will have their charges repaid in full. The estates of all those fully eligible persons who were wrongly charged for publicly funded long term residential care and died since 9 December 1998 will have the charges repaid in full. The scheme does not allow for repayments to the estates of those who died prior to that date.

Recoverable health charges are charges which were imposed on persons with full eligibility under the Health (Charges for In-patient Services) Regulations 1976 as amended in 1987 or charges for in-patient services only, raised under the Institutional Assistance Regulations 1954 as amended in 1965.

In relation to dates of repayments to applicants, the HSE has informed the Department that over 21,000 forms have been submitted to the scheme administrator applying for repayments and these applications are being processed at present. The timeframe for repayment is predicated primarily on whether the applicant is alive or whether the application is being made by the estate of a deceased person. Living people who were wrongly charged will be the first to receive payments under the scheme. It is estimated that there are now in the region of 15,000 people within this category. Queries in relation to individual applications should be referred to the scheme administrator.

In addition, the Health Service Executive has put arrangements in place whereby it can make application on behalf of living persons in long stay institutions where there is no other connected person to make an application and where the applicants are unable to apply themselves due to ill health, or mental or physical disability.

The HSE has advised that offers of repayment commenced in November and that the first payments have already issued with further payments continuing on an ongoing basis. It is expected that the bulk of payments to estates will commence in the Spring of 2007. Provision has been made for applications to be received up to 1 January 2008.

A dedicated website www.repay.ie and an information phone line 1890 886 886 have been established by the scheme administrator to assist the public in accessing claim forms and general information on the scheme. The information line operates between the hours of 8.00 am and 9.00 p.m. from Monday to Saturday.