Home » Tag Archives: Fair Deal

Tag Archives: Fair Deal

Clare has lowest Fair Deal rate in Ireland

FEARS have been expressed constructing new long stay residential facilities will no longer be attractive in Clare after a BDO survey revealed the county has the lowest Fair Deal rate in the country. Latest figures for the Fair Deal, which provides financial support to people in long-term nursing home care, shows that support for patients in Clare is the lowest in the country at €930.20 per week. This is €281.60 less per week per bed than Dublin, where the highest rate is paid and totals €951,808 less per annum for an average size Irish nursing home. Report lead author, Brian McEnery, Partner and Head of Advisory at BDO Ireland said that the system for the assessment of the Fair Deal rate is fundamentally flawed and needs to shift from a county by county assessment to a “care need” one. “Someone in a Clare nursing home with acute care needs may be getting significantly less support than someone in Dublin with …

Read More »

Harty deplores Fair Deal extension delay

THE Government’s progress on extending the Fair Deal Scheme to Home Care is proceeding at a snail’s pace, Clare Deputy Dr Michael Harty has claimed. The independent TD has, however, welcomed the decision by Helen McEntee, Minister for Older People, to launch a public consultation process at the end of May. “I welcome this public consultation as it is important to seek the opinions of all those who have views on the subject including old people themselves. I also welcome the fact that the department commissioned the Health Research Board to undertake a review of the home care systems that are in place in four other European countries. However, long experience in the health service has taught me that reports upon reports can merely act as a delaying tactic. “I don’t doubt the minister’s assurance that Government considers that a standalone funding scheme, designed for Home Care is needed but I don’t detect any real sense of urgency in her …

Read More »

Consultation on new homecare scheme

A consultation process in respect of establishing a new statutory homecare scheme is to launched in a matter of months, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Helen McEntee has announced. Also a review by the Health Research Board (HRB) of the way in which homecare services are funded and regulated in four other European countries, which was commissioned by the Department of Health in 2016, is to be published shortly. Minister McEntee said, “My priority is to ensure that our older people get the best care possible. For many that care can be provided in their own homes, surrounded by the people and communities that they love. Unfortunately, as a country, the only statutory scheme we have in place at present to care for our elderly is the Nursing Homes Support Scheme, a Fair Deal. I am determined to change this and to establish a new statutory homecare scheme. “Homecare is an increasingly important part of the …

Read More »

Fair Deal cuts worry

AGE Action has this Wednesday called on the Minister for Health and the National Treatment Purchase Fund to urgently clarify what cuts are being made to payments to nursing homes under the Nursing Home Support Scheme, and if home owners are being encouraged by Fund officials to pass these cuts on to their nursing home residents. Correspondence publicised this week by the Irish Patients Association shows that the NTPF has offered one home a rate of  €1,050 per bed per week under the Fair Deal scheme – a cut of €60 per week.  The home owner claimed that the official involved in the negotiations suggested that the shortfall be passed on to residents by charging for social activities in the home. Age Action is extremely concerned by these claims, noting that nursing home residents on low incomes were already under severe financial pressure under the terms of the Fair Deal scheme.   It urged the Minister for Health to clarify the …

Read More »