Reduced State funding for private nursing homes linked to closures

Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly: 'HSE nursing homes now, on average, are receiving close to an average €800 extra funding per resident, per week, for nursing home care.' File picture

Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has claimed more than 20 private or voluntary nursing homes have closed in the last year and that such homes receive €744 less per resident per week to cover costs than public homes.

Nursing homes are funded through Fair Deal, the nursing home support scheme. However, Nursing Homes Ireland says this is not fairly distributed.

CEO Tadhg Daly said: “While the funding crisis has led to the closure of over 20 nursing homes in the past year, the already considerable gulf in payments to HSE nursing homes has increased.” 

Comparing fees for nursing homes paid in January this year to last year, he said the difference between the private and public sectors is growing.

“HSE nursing homes now, on average, are receiving close to an average €800 extra funding per resident, per week, for nursing home care,” he said.

“In January 2022, the average difference was over €600 per resident and it is now approaching €800."

The higher fees more accurately reflect the true price of care, he said: 

It is discriminatory use of public funding and private and voluntary nursing homes are forced to close while HSE nursing homes receive multiples in funding. 

Fees for public nursing homes in Cork, effective from January, available on the HSE website, show amounts of between €1,112 and €2,545 per resident per week depending on the home.

The maximum agreed prices with private and voluntary homes in Cork, also on the HSE website, for single rooms ranged between €980 and €1,365 per resident per week, depending on the home.

NHI analysis based on average Fair Deal fees paid in Cork found a 61.5% differential for January 2023, up from a “50% differential” last year.

It said across every county over the past year "the disparity under the scheme has increased”.

“In three counties, Laois, Longford and Westmeath, HSE nursing home fees for resident care are double those payable to private and voluntary counterparts,” it said.

Mr Daly said this disparity impacts on businesses’ ability to meet costs, including wages for all levels of staff needed. He said: 

A key learning emerging from covid-19 was the absence of policy and direction to support nursing home care. 

“The failure to push on in bringing into effect systematic reform highlights an unwillingness to implement the recommended fundamental reform in how nursing home care is delivered.” 

In February of this year the Public Accounts Committee heard residents in public and private nursing homes were, in the past, inappropriately charged for care. 

The HSE said over €450m has been paid in recompense to residents in public nursing homes who held medical cards.