Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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44. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on nursing home support/fair deal; the current waiting time; and his plans to reduce this. [2329/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The Nursing Homes Support Scheme is a system of financial support for those in need of long-term residential nursing home care. Participants contribute according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. To manage the available funds throughout the year, the HSE operates a national placement list in order of when the applications are approved, and funding is released in strict chronological order as it becomes available.

As of 5 January 2015 (the latest figures available) there are 1,188 people on this placement list. The current wait time for funding is approximately 11 weeks.

The budget for the Scheme in 2015 is €948.8m which reflects an increase of €10m from the 2014 position. The additional €10m was allocated to the Scheme as part of a wider initiative to alleviate the problem of delayed discharges in acute hospitals and has resulted in 300 extra approvals under the Scheme to date. In total since December 2014 funding has been released to provide for 1,200 places.

Further to this in July of 2014, the HSE allocated €5m for an initiative to improve access to appropriate care for older people. To date this has funded over 300 transitional care beds for patients in acute hospitals who are on the Nursing Homes Support Scheme national placement list.

Since the Nursing Homes Support Scheme commenced in October 2009, 56,989 applications for funding under the Scheme have been received. In 2014, 22,061 people were funded under the Scheme.

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 completed in the coming months.