Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 384: To ask the Minister for Health and Children when relatives of deceased persons who had been cared for in public nursing homes will be notified as to when the deceased's nursing home refund will be issued; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9546/07]

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. The repayment scheme was launched publicly by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the scheme administrator KPMG/McCann Fitzgerald in August 2006.

In relation to dates of repayments to applicants, the HSE has informed the Department that over 26,000 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 14,000 people within this category. Queries in relation to individual applications should be referred to the scheme administrator.

Offers of repayment commenced in late 2006 and over 1,000 payments have already issued with further payments continuing on an ongoing basis. The HSE has indicated that over €22 million has been repaid to date. It is expected that the bulk of payments to estates will commence later in the year. Provision has been made for applications to be received up to 1 January 2008. It is anticipated that the majority of repayments will be made by mid 2008.

A dedicated website www.repay.ie, an information phone line 1890 886 886 and an e-mail facility queries@repay.ie 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 9.00 am and 6.00 pm from Monday to Friday.

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive has responsibility for administering the Repayment Scheme and the information sought by the Deputy relates to matters within the area of responsibility of the Executive. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued to the Deputy.