Elderly ‘die’ waiting for care home cash

Older people have died while waiting for financial support under the Nursing Home Support Scheme, a study claims.

A survey of private and voluntary nursing homes by Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) found that the delays were causing a deterioration in older people’s health.

The survey of 122 private and voluntary nursing homes, conducted earlier this month, involved the extraction of information on typical waiting times for Fair Deal applications. NHI said it showed there was a crisis in older person care that must be a priority for the Minister for Health. There were 96 homes that were collectively aware of 364 successful applicants awaiting financial support — about four persons for each facility. Over half of the nursing homes (51.6%) said waiting time exceeded 10 weeks and almost half (48.1%) said waiting time was 12 weeks or more.