Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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346. To ask the Minister for Health the nature of discussions between his Department or agencies under his remit with an organisation (details supplied) regarding the nursing home support scheme particularly regarding the NTPF. [43705/17]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Health has met regularly with various stakeholders, including Nursing Homes Ireland. Meetings with NHI have discussed a wide range of issues including the review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, funding of Long Term Care, residential care standards, recruitment and workforce planning. NHI was also represented on previous Working Groups chaired by the Department which considered the Care and Welfare Regulations and Towards a Restraint Free Environment in Nursing Homes. In November 2016 NHI presented to the Interdepartmental Working Group established to oversee certain recommendations contained in the review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme.

I have had three meetings with the NHI, the most recent of which took place in September 2017. A number of different issues were discussed, including nursing home charges, cost pressures, the recruitment and retention of health care assistants in the nursing home care sector and workforce planning and the implementation of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme review.

The NHSS is a system of financial support for those assessed as needing long-term nursing home care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. Under law each private and voluntary nursing home must 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.

The process of setting prices with individual private nursing homes is commonly referred to as the NTPF pricing mechanism. The National Treatment Purchase Fund has statutory independence in the performance of its function, and negotiates with each nursing home on an individual basis.

A Steering Committee was established to oversee and manage the pricing review. The Steering Committee is chaired by the NTPF and includes representatives from the Department of Health, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) and the NTPF. External consultants Deloitte and Prospectus were engaged by the NTPF in June 2016 to assist in its review of the pricing mechanism. Numerous stakeholders were engaged in this process, including NHI. Work in this area is ongoing and well advanced.