Nursing home TAPS funding
Deputy Harkin defended TAPS funding for nursing homes as essential for infection control and argued the sector still needs proactive support. The Taoiseach said vaccination had transformed the sector and that future support would move toward investment mode, with outbreak assistance as a backstop.
I listened to the Taoiseach's response regarding the TAPS scheme for nursing homes. This money is to ensure continued rigorous infection control measures are in place, quite rightly, demanded by HIQA. Some €134 million was provided, but every cost under TAPS was itemised and approved by the HSE, so it is not extra or free money. That money is still needed to protect residents and workers in nursing homes.
The pandemic is far from over and saying that there are funds available if something happens is no good. We need to be proactive, not reactive. If Covid has taught us anything, it has taught us that. I will give the Taoiseach time to respond. Why is he withdrawing this funding from the nursing home sector where it is still needed?
Comment on this
It must be acknowledged that there has been a transformation in the nursing home sector as a result of the successful implementation of the vaccination programme. As we move through the variety of supports to different sectors, there will come a stage when we must move to investment mode in the future. We will work with the nursing home sector on the next phase of this. The provision of the outbreak assistance scheme gives an underpinning and security to the nursing home sector in the event of something untoward happening, such as a spike in cases in a given nursing home. So far, the impact on the disease of the vaccination of the over-65s cohort has been quite dramatic.