Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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406. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a person (details supplied) in receipt of the fair deal nursing home support grant was billed after the person transferred from one nursing home to a new facility. [4219/19]

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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The Nursing Homes Support Scheme (NHSS), commonly referred to as Fair Deal, is a system of financial support for people who require long-term residential care. Participants contribute to the cost of their care according to their means while the State pays the balance of the cost. The Scheme aims to ensure that long-term nursing home care is accessible and affordable for everyone and that people are cared for in the most appropriate settings.

Applicants to the scheme can choose any public, voluntary or approved private nursing home. However, in order for financial support to be provided, the nursing home must have an available bed and be able to cater for the applicant's care needs.

As per the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013, a discharge shall be discussed, planned for and agreed with a resident and, where appropriate, with their family or carer, and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract agreed in accordance with Regulation 24.

Where an issue arises with respect to an individual nursing home, the procedure in place and the best course of action is to engage with the nursing home itself, specifically through its complaints process. Each nursing home is required, by law, to have a written complaints procedure and to make this clearly available to residents. Nursing homes are required to investigate all complaints promptly and to provide the complainant with the outcome of the investigation promptly, along with providing an appeal mechanism.

If the person is unhappy with how their complaint has been processed they can then escalate the complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman, who will examine the issue on their behalf. There is no charge for this, however, typically the Office of the Ombudsman requires that the person in question has first engaged with the nursing home through the defined complaints process.