Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 238: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of people who are in private nursing homes whose care is being fully paid for by the State, by way of subvention, with the patients not making contribution themselves; and the breakdown of the number on a county basis of the number of people in private nursing homes paid for by the State. [34239/08]

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The aim of the Nursing Home Subvention Scheme is to provide financial assistance to older people towards the cost of maintenance in a private nursing home.

The existing subvention scheme is governed by the Health (Nursing Homes) (Amendment) Act, 2007. Under the Act, the maximum amount for basic subvention is €300 per week. The Act also provides for enhanced subvention to be paid. However, there is no maximum amount set for enhanced subvention. The amount paid is at the discretion of the HSE and will vary depending on the following criteria:

the assessed means of the applicant,

the cost of care in the individual case compared to the level of fees in the locality,

the amount of basic subvention payable,

the amount of resources available for the scheme,

the need for the HSE to ensure that the available resources are distributed in a way that supports applicants as evenly as possible across the country.

In order to qualify for a subvention, an individual must be:

(a) sufficiently dependent to require maintenance in a nursing home, and

(b) unable to pay any or part of the cost of maintenance in the home. In order to determine this, they must undergo a means assessment which takes account of their income and assets.

At present, there are approximately 8,500 people in receipt of subvention. A further 3,000 are in contracted beds in private nursing homes. People in contract beds pay public nursing home charges and the State pays the balance of the cost.

Operational responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services was assigned to the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Therefore, the Executive is the appropriate body to provide the breakdown requested, on a county basis. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.