Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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703. To ask the Minister for Health the progress with respect to the waiting time for fair deal assessment; his plans to provide an interim subsidy for nursing home beds to alleviate the current pressure in acute hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1728/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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As of 5 January 2015 (latest figures available) there were 1,188 people on the national placement list awaiting funding under the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS). The budget for the NHSS in 2015 is €948.8m which includes an additional €10m to alleviate the problem of delayed discharges in acute hospital settings. This increase will allow for the provision of an additional 300 long stay care places under the NHSS and has reduced the wait time for funding under the Scheme from circa 15 weeks to 11 weeks now.

The HSE is doing everything possible to relieve the current pressures on acute hospitals, including relocating patients from acute settings to transitional care where this is possible. Additional funding of €8m has been provided this year through which an additional 50 transitional care/rehab beds have been allocated to acute hospitals and an additional 65 beds will come on stream on a phased basis from March 2015 through the commissioning of the former Mount Carmel Hospital.

The review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme which is currently in progress will include consideration of the balance between community and residential services as well as the future financing and sustainability of the Scheme. Work on this review is well advanced and will be published in the coming months.