Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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563. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to provide extra bed capacity in nursing homes going forward in view of the fact the State has an ageing population (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17946/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Residential care in Ireland is provided through a mix of public, voluntary and private provision. It is worth highlighting that the net budget for long-term residential care in 2017 is €940m and the Nursing Homes Support Scheme will support 23,603 clients by the end of the year.

Public Nursing Units are an essential part of our national nursing home infrastructure. They provide 5,000 long stay residential care beds i.e. approximately 20% of the total stock of nursing home beds. They also provide about 2,000 short stay beds. Many public units are housed in buildings that are less than ideal in the modern context, but notwithstanding this, the standard of care delivered to residents is generally of a very high standard. It is important therefore that we consolidate our existing stock and this is the aim of the 5 year Capital programme for Community Nursing Units which was announced last year. This provides the framework to allow for an enhanced programme to replace, upgrade and refurbish these care facilities which will consolidate our existing public stock and is expected to provide 250 additional beds.

With regard to private facilities, in Budget 2016 the Minister for Finance announced changes to the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme to allow for investment in the expansion, management and operation of nursing homes. The inclusion of nursing home expansion works in the Scheme was influenced by an analysis submitted by the Department of Health on measures, including tax measures, to support targeted development in nursing homes and primary care centres.

I would like to reiterate that it is Government policy that long-term nursing home care should be a last resort and we want to develop home and community care services to provide a more viable alternative to nursing home care for a greater number of people. In that context, I am prioritising the development of a regulatory and funding model for home care services.