Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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564. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the fair deal system is failing a person (details supplied) and their child and carer in the provision of assistance with funded nursing home care; if his attention has been drawn to the impact of the delay in the availability of funding, following assessment, approval and sign off for the scheme, that is causing significant financial hardship for their family; his plans to reform the system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29241/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Nursing Homes Support Scheme is a demand-led, resource capped system of financial support for individuals who are assessed as requiring long-term nursing home care. The total budget for long-term residential in 2013 is €974m. The HSE operates a national placement list to enable it to operate within the budget for the Scheme. All applicants who are approved for funding are put on the placement list in chronological order by the date of determination of their application. The HSE makes every effort to match available funding to demand by releasing funding on a weekly basis.

When the Nursing Homes Support Scheme commenced in October, 2009, a commitment was made that it would be reviewed after three years. The reason for allowing this period to elapse is to ensure that trends and statistics will be available in order to inform the work. It is envisaged that the review will be completed by end 2013- early 2014.

As the Scheme is statutory based, the implementation of any recommendations arising from the review may require significant amendments to the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act, 2009.

In relation to the specific case raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, it has been referred to the HSE for direct reply.