John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for Health his intentions in regard to the fair deal scheme; if he can address the concerns being expressed by elderly persons relative to those seeking residential care and those already in care; if commercial concerns of the service providers will be addressed; if he will meet representatives of the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19576/11]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The processing of approvals for financial support under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme re-commenced the week beginning the 13th June. Approvals are being issued to those applicants processed to final stage in the chronological order in which they were received in the Central Office in Tullamore. The first 497 of these applicants have been dealt with. Funding is being assigned on a daily basis. There are approximately 600 further applications in progress and awaiting approval in July.

The key focus of the Minister for Health is to ensure that those who require nursing home care will be able to access it and, to this end, the Department estimates that almost 24,000 people will be in long-term nursing home care by year end. This would mean a net increase of around 1,700 people by the end of the year. In order to fund this increase, and to offset other pressures on the subhead such as increases in average length of stay, cost increases etc., the Minister identified a range of savings and income sources, one of which is a potential saving of up to €30 million in non-service related spending. This funding will come primarily from capital spending which is running significantly behind budget so far this year. Finally, the Minister met with Nursing Homes Ireland, whose members account for over 70% of all long-term care beds nationally, on the 3rd June 2011 to discuss the Nursing Homes Support Scheme.