Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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162. To ask the Minister for Health the plans being made to prevent a future nursing home crisis (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27483/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The funding that is available for services for older people must be balanced across all of the various service areas in a way that achieves the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of service users and prioritises areas of greatest need as far as possible. I would like to assure the Deputy that the Government is acutely aware of the implications for service requirements of the projected demographic trends, and all relevant information will be taken account of in future decisions.

The priority for 2014 is the development of an integrated model of care with a strong emphasis on home care and other community services. This is seen as a first step in aligning the model of care more towards the community, in line with Government policy and the expressed wishes of older people. In this regard, €23m was transferred from the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS) budget to community services. However, the budget for the NHSS remains significant with €939m available this year. The €23m which was transferred from the NHSS budget to community services is being used to deliver a greater range of care options, prevent unnecessary hospital admissions, avoid undue delays in discharges from acute hospitals and provide rehabilitation to support older people to return home.

The Deputy will be aware that the NHSS is currently being reviewed. The review is considering the long term sustainability of the Scheme as well as looking at how well the current model of provision is currently balancing residential care with care in the community, and whether this needs to be adjusted to better reflect what older people want. Work on the Review is advanced. It is expected that it will be completed in the coming months and the Report will then be made publicly available.