Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will consider implementing a more favourable patient pricing structure to allow for the continuing viability of Cobh Community Hospital in County Cork; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34543/10]

Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Cobh Community Hospital provides a range of services, including long-term nursing home care. In October 2009, a new system of financial support for long-term nursing home care, the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, was introduced. The scheme is now the single method of financial support for such care. The scheme involves a fundamental change in the way in which long-term nursing home care is funded and, consequently, the way in which nursing homes and community hospitals, including Cobh Community Hospital, are funded. In the past, many of these facilities were allocated a lump sum annually. In contrast, the new scheme supports the individuals in need of long-term nursing home care, not the facilities providing the care. This means that funding follows the patients and ensures that facilities are not being funded for empty beds.

The legislation underpinning the Nursing Homes Support Scheme requires all nursing homes, including facilities such as Cobh Community Hospital which previously received funding under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004, to negotiate and agree a price for the cost of care with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) should they wish to participate in the scheme. This is a necessary feature of the scheme due to the commitment by the State to meet the full balance of the cost of care over and above a person's contribution.

The NTPF has statutory responsibility for the negotiation of prices and is independent in the performance of its function. In carrying out this function, the NTPF has particular responsibility to ensure value for money for both the individual and the State. These legal structures mean that it is not possible for the Minister for Health and Children to intervene in the agreement reached between the NTPF and any given facility, including Cobh Community Hospital.

Finally, the Nursing Homes Support Scheme only applies to long-term nursing home care. Nursing homes and community hospitals can continue to have separate agreements with the HSE for the provision of other services, e.g. day care, respite and convalescence.