Patients must get money back

SEVERAL months ago I proposed a notice of motion to Kerry County Council calling on the Southern Health Board to repay to residents of long-stay community hospitals — or to their relatives where appropriate — the money which the board had deducted from their weekly social welfare allowance.

I stated that there was no justification in law for such deductions 80% being the usual level. There was especially no right to deduct from the weekly allowance of the over-70s, who are all automatically entitled to a medical card. That card guarantees to each holder full and free medical care.

The ombudsman, in his report on the nursing home subvention scheme, stated: "Everybody resident in the State is eligible to be provided with in-patient services, where necessary, by the relevant health board. As well as covering acute hospital stay the term, self-evidently, includes wider categories of services such as the long-stay care of elderly or disabled people."