Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 189: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the fair deal scheme in cases in which a patient is moved from a public psychiatric home to a nursing home; if the patient will continue to be entitled to be treated as a public patient; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9913/10]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 190: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if a psychiatric patient who has undergone an assessment when moving from a psychiatric unit to a nursing home will be assessed as a mental health patient or a public nursing home patient for the purposes of the fair deal scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9914/10]

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 192: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she is satisfied that nursing homes to which it is proposed to send mental health patients are adequately resourced to ensure the appropriate level of care for these patients; the extra provisions that are in place to deal with the increased demand for places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9916/10]

Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 189, 190 and 192 together.

A patient who was in receipt of public in-patient services and subject to long-stay charges under section 53 of the Health Act 1970 prior to the introduction of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, A Fair Deal, can choose to continue with their current arrangements when transferring to a public nursing home. In other words, where the person remains in receipt of public care services, they can choose to continue paying long-stay charges in accordance with section 53 of the Health Act 1970 and do not have to transfer to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme.

Accordingly, the patient will not have to undergo the assessments, including the care needs assessment, provided for in the new scheme. However, the Deputy will be aware that in 2009 my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, introduced new Care and Welfare Regulations to underpin the National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People in Ireland. Article 8 of the Regulations states that "the person in charge shall ensure each resident's needs are set out in an individual care plan developed and agreed with each resident."

The National Standards themselves consist of 32 standards, focusing on the outcomes for the resident, under the following seven groupings: Rights, Protection, Health and Social Needs, Quality of Life, Staffing, The Care Environment and Governance and Management. The standards are a key requirement for the registration and inspection of nursing homes and they are underpinned by the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2009.

Amongst other things, the standards govern the procedure for moving to long-term residential care. In particular, Standard 10 addresses the assessment requirements by providing that "Each resident has his/her needs assessed prior to moving into the residential care setting, a full assessment upon admission, and subsequently as required to reflect changes in need and circumstances during his/her period in residence.

Standard 11 provides that "The arrangements to meet each resident's assessed needs are set out in an individual care plan, developed and agreed with each resident, or in the case of a resident with cognitive impairment with his/her representative."