Nursing home claims - Only eligible people must be paid

The State has allocated €1 billion to pay back people who were charged illegally for nursing home care.

So far only €87 million of that has been settled in claims since the first payments were made last November.

There seemed to be various reasons for the delay. In many cases nobody had filed a claim, but there is also the issue that less than 18% of claims formally submitted have so far been settled.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) contends that a high number of deficiencies have to be rectified before it can concede payments. The HSE has a duty to ensure that it only pays money to people who are genuinely eligible. At the same time, however, it should ensure that those who should make an application are facilitated in doing so.

Most of the claims made so far were on behalf of the estates of deceased patients rather than the patients themselves. Some of those people who paid may well have been essentially dumped into nursing homes by relatives who did not care about them.

It seems absurd that such people should reap payment as a kind of reward for their past indifference.

People who were illegally charged should get their money back, and priority should be given to those cases to facilitate speedy payment. If the State owes the money, it should pay it to the proper people and there should be no argument about paying it promptly.