Written answers

Thursday, 15 December 2022

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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334. To ask the Minister for Health the additional financial supports that will be provided for small-scale nursing home providers in view of the substantial additional costs incurred recently by such providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63018/22]

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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335. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that adequate financial support is provided for small-scale nursing home providers given that a number of such providers have closed over recent months and it is essential that private nursing home care is not provided solely by large-scale operators, which would result in some rural communities losing such important health care facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63019/22]

Photo of Mary ButlerMary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 334 and 335 together.

I recognise the important part smaller voluntary and family-run nursing homes play in communities and I am strongly committed to supporting them in these challenging times. 

The Government remains conscious of the financial challenges faced by the Nursing Home sector, particularly in terms of inflationary cost increases. A €10m scheme (the Temporary Inflation Payment Scheme or TIPS) has been established that will cover 75% of year-on-year energy and heating cost increases in private and voluntary nursing homes up to a monthly cap of €5,250 per month per nursing home over the period of July to December 2022.

Since the start of the pandemic, private and voluntary nursing homes have also received a wide range of non-financial supports, including over €72m in free PPE and oxygen, as well as over €145m of financial support through the Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme (TAPS). The TAPS COVID-19 Outbreak Assistance has been extended to the end of the year. 

Budget 2023 saw over €40 million in additional funding for the Nursing Home Support Scheme (NHSS) which will provide for an uplift in the maximum prices chargeable by private and voluntary nursing homes, as negotiated. 

In December 2021, the Department of Health published the independently chaired Value for Money (VFM) review on nursing home costs. The review found that the cost differential is largely driven by variances in staff-to-resident ratios and the skill mix in public and private nursing homes. The VFM Review made nine recommendations which the Department continues to take forward. Many of the recommendations from the report were already in progress and overlap with existing reforms.  Further work is being undertaken to address issues in the sector on foot of the recommendations of the NTPF Pricing Review and the report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Health Care Assistants.

There a number of reasons for nursing home closures each year including retirement, non-compliance with HIQA regulations, financial viability and, in some cases, recognition that their premises would not be compliant with revised regulations. The Government remains committed to ensuring that long-term residential care for older people continues to place residents’ care, well-being, standards and best interests at the centre of development. It is essential that all future plans for the nursing home sector continue to prioritise the best interests of residents while seeking value for money for the Exchequer.

The Department takes the closures of nursing homes very seriously and I am currently in discussions with Departmental officials to examine ways in which funding can also continue to be used to provide support, where necessary and appropriate, to those nursing homes who are not scheduled to renegotiate their Deeds of Agreement this year. This includes an expected extension of the Temporary Inflation Payment Scheme into 2023.

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