Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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530. To ask the Minister for Health the factors that influenced him to order a value-for-money review of nursing home costs; if he will publish the information made available to his Department by the Health Service Executive on the cost per bed in public nursing homes since 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20818/16]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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When the Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS) commenced in 2009, a commitment was made that it would be reviewed after three years. The report of the Review was published in July 2015. The Review included a general examination of the operation of the Scheme, and also looked at the price of long term residential care in public, voluntary and private nursing homes.

The legislation underpinning the Nursing Homes Support Scheme requires each private nursing home to negotiate and agree a price for long-term residential care services with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) should they wish to be an approved nursing home for the purposes of the Scheme, and the NHSS Review provided that the NTPF would review its approach to pricing with a view to:

- Ensuring value for money and economy, with the lowest possible administrative cost for clients and the State and administrative burden for providers;

- Increasing the transparency of the pricing mechanism so that existing and potential investors can make as informed decisions as possible; and

- Ensuring that there is adequate residential capacity for those residents with more complex needs.

However, the NTPF has no role in setting or negotiating prices for public facilities, and it was considered important that this system also be examined to ensure that value for money is being achieved to the maximum extent possible.

While 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 work with the HSE in 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.

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act, 2009 provides that the components that make up the cost of care in public residential facilities must be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, and the HSE have complied with this requirement. There is no legal obligation under the Act for the HSE to publish the public cost of care.

Over the past number of years the cost of care for public nursing homes under the Scheme as published on the HSE website was not updated by the HSE as the costs of public long stay and short stay care services were being reviewed. This work was acknowledged in the Review of the NHSS. The HSE will, however, publish the cost of care for public residential care centres in September 2016 as part of a process to provide additional information on its services to the public.