Patients illegally charged for care will have 28 days to accept compensation

PATIENTS illegally charged by the State for public nursing home care will be given 28 days to accept or reject the offers of repayment made to them.

The State is expected to refund about e1 billion under the repayment scheme, which will be launched next month.

Priority will be given to the 20,000 patients who are still alive. Refunds will be paid at a later stage to the estates of between 40,000 and 50,000 dead patients.