HSE pays out €105,000 after wrongly charging for incontinence wear

Politicians have called for an urgent investigation into hidden nursing-home fees. It has emerged that the HSE has been forced to pay out €105,000 to six families whose relatives were wrongly charged, for over a decade, for incontinence wear.

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee demanded the move after claiming that the HSE had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” into admitting the compensation payments, linked to a religious-run nursing home.

In a letter to the PAC in recent days, the HSE’s community operations section said it has paid out considerable sums, in response to “alleged improper or illegal charging of residents”.

Citing the Brothers of Charity-run Loyola Lodge, in Co Roscommon, the HSE said that between 2002 and 2013, residents at the home were told to pay for incontinence wear, which should have been funded by the State.

The situation — which the HSE said was due to late 1990s advice from the then director of public health nursing — meant that the cost of the incontinence wear was “deducted” from elderly people’s funds.

The practice of charging ended in 2013, after a formal complaint by the family of one of the people who had been affected.

“The HSE has been aware of the issue of over-charging of service-users since 2013 and was involved in the decision to stop the charge,” the HSE said in the letter to the PAC.

“The HSE area manager met with one of the families in 2014 to explain what had happened.

“In addition, a family referred the case to the ombudsman in November 2014. In 2018, €105,335 has been provided on a once-off basis to the Brothers of Charity to refund clients for the inappropriate charges for incontinence wear.”

“The director of services in the Brothers of Charity service, Roscommon, has confirmed that all six service-users who were charged for incontinence wear have received a full refund.”

Fianna Fáil TD and PAC member, Marc MacSharry, said the HSE had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” to admit what had happened and that “there is a deeper problem here that this is covering”.

Calling for a wider examination, Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell similarly said that, from her previous work as a pharmacist, “I have had reason to see that people are charged for other services”, including “packaging of medications”, “catheters” and “going to Mass”.

The PAC is expected to call for a meeting with Nursing Homes Ireland, the HSE, and other groups linked to the issue, when it returns from the Halloween break, next week.

Concerns have previously been raised about illegal nursing-home charges and other costs, with minister of state for older persons, Jim Daly, warning, last month, that nursing-home residents and their families must be told of any hidden charges before they occur.