Treatment fund under fire for Fair Deal collapse

THE National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) has come under fire for its role in the near collapse of the state’s nursing home support scheme, Fair Deal, by agreeing inflated prices with owners of private nursing homes.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) found the agreement with about 440 private nursing homes was reached without reference to costing models and could end up costing the scheme €20 million more per annum than was estimated.

“No standard pricing model or template was applied by the NTPF in determining prices,” the report said. “Levels of dependency were generally not taken into account during this process.”