Written answers

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Department of Health

Nursing Homes Support Scheme Administration

Photo of Peadar TóibínPeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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366. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the current waiting list for approval of funding for the fair deal nursing home scheme which is running at approximately 15 weeks; the action he will take through his Department’s budget for 2015 to reduce this. [35543/14]

Photo of Kathleen LynchKathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The HSE operates a national placement list for the Nursing Homes Support Scheme to enable it to operate within budget. All applicants who are approved for funding are put on the placement list in chronological order by the date of determination of their application. Funding issues to applicants in this chronological order to ensure equity nationally. Funding is released by the HSE on a weekly basis to ensure those on the placement list receive funding as soon as possible. Currently, the average waiting time on the placement list following funding approval is 14 weeks. As of the 4th of September (latest figures available), there are 1,753 on the placement list awaiting funding release.

Funding for these services will be considered in the context of the Estimates Process 2015, which is currently underway. The funding that does become available 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.

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