Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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686. To ask the Minister for Health the bed capacity of all nursing homes, by public, by private, by county, in tabular form; the current vacancy rates with respect to each; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1406/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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687. To ask the Minister for Health the projected total need for nursing home beds, by public, by private, by county, over the next five year period in tabular form; how he will address this need and the action being taken to ensure that any additional beds required, based on these projections, come on stream within this time frame; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1407/16]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 686 and 687 together.

The Health Information and Quality Authority is an independent authority established under the Health Act 2007. Since 2009 all designated centres for older people (nursing homes) whether public, private or voluntary have been registered and inspected by HIQA. Under Section 49 of the Act the Chief Inspector must establish and maintain a register of designated centres. Details entered into the register include the name and address of the centre, date of registration and the number of people that can be accommodated. This information is available on a county basis and is published and can be accessed at the Authority’s website .

During 2015 the Department commissioned a consultancy to provide an analysis of potential measures to encourage the provision of nursing home and Community Nursing Unit facilities. This report was published in December and is available at . The report forecasts the demand for long stay and short stay beds from 2016 to 2036, arising from CSO based population projections. The information is broken down at HSE Local Office Level. The report notes that the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Occupancy report for May 2015 indicates that at a national level public long stay units had an occupancy rate of 92%. It further notes that according to Nursing Homes Ireland the average occupancy rate nationally in private nursing homes during 2014 was 90%. In his budget speech, Mr Michael Noonan T.D., Minister for Finance announced changes to the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS) to allow for investment in the extension, management and operation of nursing homes. The inclusion of nursing home expansion works in the EIIS was influenced by this analysis.

It is important to both consolidate our existing stock, particularly of public beds, and to ensure that sufficient capacity is provided across the public and private sectors to meet future demand. I recently announced an additional €300m capital allocation for refurbishment or replacement of social care facilities for older persons’ units and disability units to allow such facilities to comply with relevant National Standards by 2021. The Review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme included a general examination of the operation of the Scheme, as well as the balance between residential care and care in the community and a number of key issues have been identified for more detailed considerations across Departments and Agencies. Arising from the Review, further work will be undertaken by the National Treatment Purchase Fund to examine their current pricing arrangements with a view to ensuring adequate residential capacity for those with complex care needs, providing value and increasing transparency, and to submit future pricing proposals to the Minister.