Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Health if he is satisfied that the fair deal scheme is adequatley funded; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30089/12]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The total gross budget for long-term residential care in 2012 is €994.7m. This is effectively the budget for the Nursing Homes Support Scheme albeit that pre-Nursing Homes Support Scheme arrangements must also be facilitated from within the subhead, i.e. people in contract beds, people who choose to remain on subvention and people who were in public nursing homes prior to the commencement of the Scheme.

Additional funding of €55 million was originally allocated to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme for 2012. However, the Minister for Health subsequently decided to transfer €13 million of the €55 million for an initiative being developed by the Special Delivery Unit in 2012 to improve access to care and quality of care for the frail elderly, achieve better patient outcomes and experience as well as better value for money. A further €5 million was transferred to Primary Care services to underpin overall government policy of shifting focus to primary and community services.

There were 3,497 applications for the Nursing Homes Support Scheme between January and end-April 2012. In that same period, 4,242 applications were processed to conclusion. Of the applications processed to conclusion, 2,885 were approved for funding and 1,358 were withdrawn. There is nobody on the placement list waiting for funding under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme at present.

Finally, a public consultation process to inform the review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme commenced on the 14th June. A call for submissions was made in national newspapers and a notice was placed on the Department of Health website. The closing date for receipt of submissions is the 16th July. When the public consultation process has concluded, the Department of Health will be seeking tenders through the public procurement process for the carrying out of the review. This process takes approximately 4 months. It is anticipated that the review itself will take approximately three months to complete. It is expected that the review will commence in the last quarter of this year and be completed in early 2013.

The Terms of Reference for the review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme are:

Taking account of Government policy, demographic trends and the fiscal situation - 1.to examine the on-going sustainability of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, 2. To examine the overall cost of long-term residential care in public and private nursing homes and the effectiveness of the current methods of negotiating/setting prices, 3. Having regard to 1. and 2. above, to consider the balance of funding between long-term residential care and community based services, 4. To consider the extension of the scheme to community based services and to other sectors (Disability and Mental Health), and 5. To make recommendations for the future operation and management of the scheme.