Donnelly accuses nursing home operator of 'cynical' tactics over Fair Deal scheme
Relatives and friends of Beaumont Care Home residents protest at Micheál Martin's constituency office in Cork last month. Picture: Jim Coughlan
The health minister has accused a private nursing home operator of using “cynical” tactics and causing undue anxiety to its residents to highlight what it has described as an underfunding crisis in the Fair Deal scheme.
Stephen Donnelly levelled the criticism at CareChoice as it continues talks with the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) over the level of Fair Deal funding for its Beaumont Care Home in Cork.
Relatives of the home's 56 Fair Deal residents have been protesting at the constituency offices of the Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Finance Minister Michael McGrath, and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney, in recent weeks amid fears that the operator might pull out of the Fair Deal scheme if an agreement is not reached.
When asked if more funding would be made available to the NTPF to increase the Fair Deal rates, Mr Donnelly said: "The Fair Deal scheme is under review and the rates that are being paid to different nursing homes are being increased.
“But I certainly wouldn't support the manner in which this company has behaved in terms of this nursing home.
There are ongoing discussions with the NTPF right across the board and there's a huge amount of anxiety now has been caused in terms of their residents and in terms of their relatives, and I don't believe that it was necessary.
Mr Donnelly said there is a wide range of nursing home types, with some owned by large, well-capitalised companies and smaller homes run by families, sometimes for generations, and that talks with the NTFP are ongoing with many of them.
“Many of the nursing homes which are having their agreements renewed, often on a three-yearly basis, are seeing an uplift and they are saying that this is helping them deal with the very real pressures that nursing homes are facing in terms of higher costs,” he said.
“I don't believe that this nursing home [Beaumont] has behaved in a particularly helpful way.
“I think they know exactly what they're doing. I think it's quite a cynical way for them to behave."
“And I think there has been an awful lot of anxiety caused that quite frankly, isn't being caused to residents in other nursing homes.”
Responding, CareChoice, which runs 14 care homes countrywide, six of which are in Cork, rejected the minister’s assertion that what is happening in relation to Beaumont was a cynical tactic.
It said it was “offended by this narrative” because it is its residents and their families who are being impacted by the “serious NTPF Fair Deal underfunding situation” facing private nursing homes.
“As a group, CareChoice made losses of around €6m in the last year, despite the fact that the shareholder has also put an unplanned €16m into the business," a spokesman for CareChoice said.
“The NTPF Fair Deal contract at Beaumont Residential Care has expired. That is why the situation is so acute in this nursing home. To date, CareChoice has been unable to agree a fair level of funding per resident on the Fair Deal scheme.”
CareChoice currently gets a NTPF Fair Deal rate of €1,085 per resident per week at its six care homes in Cork. It says it needs €1,270 to be sustainable.
“The NTPF is unwilling to agree to this sustainable rate while at the same time it has agreed to a rate of €1,365 per week for another private nursing home in Cork,” the spokesman said.
“CareChoice has tried on numerous occasions to engage with the minister and his officials to discuss the issue, but so far, has been unable to secure a meeting, and we would still very much welcome the minister to meet with us.”
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