Hospital discharges to nursing homes
Deputy Burke asked about engagement with private nursing homes to speed up hospital discharges and about the gap between public and private bed payments. The Minister said there were existing service arrangements, major funding for nursing homes, and many renegotiated agreements.
At any one time, there are more than 500 people in our hospitals who could be discharged. What level of engagement has taken place with the private nursing home sector with a view to expediting the discharge of people from hospitals to free up hospital beds? What further engagement has occurred as regards reconciling the difference between what is paid for a public nursing home bed and a private nursing home bed?
Comment on this
We had a debate during the week on nursing homes. If memory serves me correctly, there are 670 beds currently on a legal footing between the HSE and nursing homes where we have a service level agreement in relation to people accessing those beds. Approximately 500 of the beds are done on a national level and 170 to 180 of the beds are done on a local level.
This year the Government will provide €1.5 billion to support 22,700 residents in nursing homes. To date, 120 nursing homes have renegotiated their deal through the fair deal and by the end of this year, up to 60% of nursing homes will do that.
We continue to provide free personal protective equipment, PPE, and oxygen to nursing homes at a cost to the State to date of €75 million. This started in Covid. I have extended the temporary inflation payment scheme, TIPS, supports for nursing homes in relation to excess energy costs up to the end of June of this year.