Nursing home residents' families left disappointed after taking campaign to Leinster House

Protesters outside Leinster House on Wednesday calling for increased funding for Beaumont Residential Care nursing home. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The families of nursing home residents at a centre of a Fair Deal funding crisis have expressed disappointment after taking their campaign to the gates of Dáil Éireann.

The small group of family carers and friends of the 56 affected residents living at Beaumont Residential Care (BRC) in Cork were joined by groups representing an estimated 5,000 private nursing home beds in the sector at Leinster House in what was one of the largest demonstrations by the nursing home sector in some time.

The BRC residents’ families, who have become the public face of the Fair Deal funding crisis, met Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Mary Butler, to discuss their call for increased National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) rates for Fair Deal residents in private nursing homes.

But John Murphy, who attended the meeting, said Ms Butler told them there was “nothing on the table and nothing she can do”.

He said Beaumont, and the five care homes in Cork run by CareChoice, get €200 per resident per week less than Dublin care homes. He said the minister refused to be drawn on this point but pointed out she has an increased budget for next year.

He then said the families of BRC did not vote for the NTPF, but Waterford-based families did vote for Ms Butler, and to hear now that she cannot and is refusing to do anything, is “utterly disgraceful”.

Anne Rogers taking part in the the protest outside Leinster House on Wednesday. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

“The NTPF is a secret organisation and is not accountable to anybody, and as we live in a democracy,” he said. “We should not have any government organisation that is unaccountable to the people of Ireland.”

Among those at the protest were members of The Alliance — a support network representing over 30 small nursing homes across the country which it says are at risk of closure because of the Fair Deal funding model.

The Alliance says it also wants the government to change elements of the Nursing Home Support Scheme Act 2009 which govern how the NTPF negotiates with nursing homes in relation to the Fair Deal funding.

CareChoice, which runs 14 homes nationwide, is still involved in talks with the NTPF over the level of Fair Deal funding it receives.

The group has said that, against the backdrop of soaring care costs, it made losses of around €6m in the last year, despite the fact its shareholder has ploughed an unplanned €16m into the business.

It said it gets a NTPF Fair Deal rate of €1,085 per resident per week at its six care homes in Cork but needs €1,270 to be sustainable.

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“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 group has said.

Many of the affected residents are frail, in ill-health with many suffering from Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

The families say they are fearful that unless urgent action is undertaken by government to resolve the funding issue immediately, their loved ones will be removed from their care homes with uncertainty surrounding where they will be “re-homed”.

It is understood the group plans to continue its protests outside the offices of senior cabinet members in Cork.