Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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379. To ask the Minister for Health if he has acknowledged Nursing Homes Ireland's recent public pronouncements (details supplied) that the consistent failure to publish the costs of public nursing home care amounts to a cover-up; if he further acknowledges, in the interest of openness and transparency, that it is incumbent upon the Health Service Executive to publish, with immediacy, public nursing home costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19750/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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It is true that costs for public nursing homes are higher than in the private sector and vary considerably even within the public system. There are valid factors for a difference, in that more complex and highly dependent residents are often catered for by the public system, and conditions of employment and tenure etc. are different too.

It is however, important that public facilities operate as efficiently and economically as possible, and towards that end, the HSE is already engaged in a comprehensive exercise to review and streamline the operation and cost structures of public facilities. The Department of Health will also be conducting a Value for Money Review of public nursing home costs to identify more fully the factors that may be increasing costs and any areas that require correction.