Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 41: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if capital funding will be made available to public nursing homes to enable them to upgrade their facilities to meet the new Health Information and Quality Authority residential care standards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13147/09]

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that my colleague the Minister for Health and Children recently approved the national standards for all residential care settings for older people under section 10 (2) of the Health Act, 2007. The approval has been conveyed to the Health Information and Quality Authority and the standards were launched earlier this month. Under the 2007 Act statutory responsibility is given to the Chief Inspector of Social Services for inspecting and registering all residential centres for older people. It is intended to have the relevant parts of the Act commenced on 1 July, 2009 to allow the Chief Inspector inspect all centres against the regulations governing these centres together with the standards set by HIQA.

Standard 25 addresses the physical environment for all types of residential centres. A distinction is made between existing facilities and new builds. The standards provide a six year period for existing builds, whether public, private or voluntary to meet certain infrastructural deficits, for example with regard to room sizes, the number of residents per room and usable floor space. While the Chief Inspector has some discretion to extend this timeframe this can only occur where the provider and the Chief Inspector agree a written, explicit, costed plan with timescales to address these deficits. The Executive is developing an Action Plan to prioritise a phased programme of refurbishment and replacement of existing public nursing homes to meet the new standards.