Fair Deal funding crisis: Cork families say 'distress' inflicted on elderly people is 'disgraceful'

Families of nursing home residents at risk of losing their homes over a Fair Deal funding crisis have staged a second protest in Cork as they pleaded with the Taoiseach to intervene

Relatives and friends of Beaumount Residential Care residents protest at the constituency office of Tánaiste Micheál Martin. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Worried families of nursing home residents at risk of losing their homes over a Fair Deal funding crisis have pleaded with the Taoiseach to intervene.

The group, whose loved ones live in Beaumont Residential Care (BRC) home in Cork City, issued the call during their second day of protest this week outside the constituency offices of senior Cabinet members. 

It comes after the CareChoice group, which runs 14 care homes countrywide, confirmed it was withdrawing BRC from the Fair Deal scheme because of a lack of funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

The group of families, which represents 56 BRC residents on the Fair Deal scheme, protested outside Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s office on Monday but ramped up their campaign on Friday with protests outside the offices of Finance Minister Michael McGrath and Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney in Carrigaline.

Anne Rogers, whose mother is one of the long-term residents at risk, said they had now written to the Taoiseach to appeal to him to urgently intervene.

“The distress, upset and anguish that is being inflicted on vulnerable elderly people over this issue is simply disgraceful,” she said.

“We hope that the Taoiseach, as a medical professional himself, will show empathy and understanding to our plight and support the residents in their desire to stay in their nursing home.

“Organising these protests outside Minister Coveney and Minister McGrath’s offices today is the last thing we want to do, but we have no alternative left.

Relatives and friends of Beaumount Residential Care residents protest at the constituency office of Tánaiste Micheál Martin. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Our parents are old, extremely vulnerable and are in no fit state to be worrying about whether they will have a safe roof over their heads in a few weeks’ time.” 

CareChoice told relatives that each of BRC’s 56 Fair Deal residents gets €738 less per week than a HSE nursing home resident under the terms of the NTPF deed of agreement, and that it has received on average of €16 per resident per week in their Cork homes, in comparison to a €138 increase per resident per week in HSE publicly-run nursing homes in Cork.

CareChoice chief executive Stuart Murphy told the Irish Examiner that against the backdrop of rising care costs, the group had incurred a €6m loss over the last two years, and that the current NTPF rate of support for Fair Deal residents of €1,085 per resident per week at Beaumont was just not sustainable.

He said CareChoice needed a minimum of €1,270 per resident per week — an extra €580,000 per year in support — to continue providing care.

Beaumont is the focus now because its deed of agreement has expired but he said the contracts for CareChoice’s five nursing homes in Cork are up next year and a funding resolution must be found.

Mr Coveney said it was not acceptable that 56 vulnerable people and their families are left in limbo and uncertain about the future because of the absence of a negotiated agreement.

“More than 400 other nursing homes in the county have successfully agreed pricing contracts with the NTPF,” he said.

In the case of Beaumont, an agreement needs to be found too, to bring an end to the certainty and anxiety for the families.

“The NTPF is an independent statutory body. Neither I nor the minister for health can get involved in any independent case-by-case funding decisions.

“I encourage CareChoice to continue to engage with the NTPF to try to resolve this issue. Responsibility for care of the residents in long-term residential care facilities rests with each individual nursing home.

“The only way for a solution to be reached is through dialogue between the parties.” 

But despite the NTPF insisting it keeps “open lines of communication and regularly communicate with all those nursing homes we negotiate with”, Mr Murphy said he had tried 14 times to contact the NTPF seeking meaningful engagement, without success.