Minister: Axe Fair Deal budget cap

Elderly people are being “trapped” in hospitals because not enough funds are going into Fair Deal help for them, Health Minister Leo Varadkar has admitted.

The minister was speaking as the number of people left on trolleys or chairs soared to 543 yesterday, close to its January peak of 601.

“We need to consider making the Fair Deal demand-led. Even though we have got the waiting list for the Fair Deal down from about 18 weeks to 11 weeks, there are still quite a number of older people who are effectively trapped in hospitals because we can’t fund nursing home care for them and that’s not something that I can stand over for very much longer.