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AGE ACTION HAS described as a “nightmare situation” news that funding allocated for this year to the Fair Deal nursing home scheme has already run out.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed it is taking new applications but these would only be accepted to the scheme if more money becomes available.
The scheme was introduced by then Minister for Health Mary Harney in 2009. When it was announced Minister Harney said Fair Deal would make “residential nursing home care for older people accessible, affordable, anxiety-free“.
Under Fair Deal everyone is asked to contribute towards their long-term nursing home care according to their means. As such it was designed to alleviate stress on people who may have felt pressured to sell their homes to pay for nursing home care. Age Action spokesman Eamon Timmins said:
Those who are deemed to be in medical need of a nursing home bed, having been assessed under the Fair Deal scheme, are now left with the choice of paying the full cost of a bed in a private or public nursing home, or taking their place on a waiting list until somebody currently occupying a nursing home bed under the scheme vacates that bed or dies.
Since it began over 20,000 people have applied for the scheme and more than 16,000 of these were approved for funding. In a statement, the HSE says that €1.011 billion is allocated in its Service Plan to fund all long-term residential care in 2011. It says “a number of factors” including an an increase in demand and a rise in the cost of private nursing home care has led to the scheme been suspended.
The HSE says it is working closely with the Department of Health to explore options to meet the increased demand within the financial constraints.
Age Action says its information line has been busy all day with people calling with concerns. The charity says that some people who were due to go into nursing homes in the next few days have been told by those facilities that is on hold until the situation is clarified.
Timmins said that when it was introduced, the Government said the Fair Deal would put people’s minds at rest, knowing that if they needed a nursing home bed they would be able to afford one. ”The current funding situation will cause untold stress for those left waiting for their applications to be approved”, he said.
The charity says the problem is not just an issue affecting older members of the community. Timmins says there will be a knock-on effect on the public health system with demand for beds. If there are no nursing home beds to take people who need them then those people will remain in the hospitals, he said.
Temporary funding needs to be provided by Minister for Health James Reilly, according to Timmins, while the review goes on. He believes the situation can’t be allowed to continue for more than a few days as it is a serious public health issue.
We never thought it was fair for anyone, Timmins added, except it treated all sick older people unfairly.
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Can we have one just like her. In fact, I would settle for one half as good.
@Sean Murnin: Leo Varadkar
@Splat: Hahaha, I nearly choked on my coffee. That muppet isn’t nearly in the same league. Bit early in the morning for comedy.
@Sean Murnin: He’s not playing the same game.
@Declan Kelly: yeah but he’s good at standing in front of a camera and looking like he’s got everything under control.
@Al Fresco: No he’s not. He’s got the standing thing down, and spacing out his sentences to a borderline awkward extent, but I’ve never once felt confident he knew what he was doing. His public speaking is worse than Mícheál’s, imo
@Sean Murnin: Spitting Image can’t even make her look bad :)
@Sean Murnin: Mary Lou is on the way….
Fair play to her. Can’t wait to read all the empty “she’s not so great” and “she’s as bad as the rest of them” comments
@JusticeForJoe: She’s not so great, as bad as the rest of them she is.
@JusticeForJoe: She did the right thing from the very beginning. Tremendous work with the great payoff. Delighted for her and her country
@JusticeForJoe: she seems to trigger a certain type alright
@Darren Lambe: Why I oughta…
@Vanessa:
Delighted for her, her Country as well, here!
But, in fairness, her terrain was easier to work with, applying those effective measures which ultimately resulted in just 25 deaths from Covid-19, compared to the teaming masses and way winds blow up this direction, in Northern Hemisphere.
I mean, NZ and its remoteness in every Direction, well at least South, East and West of it, was set up by God with social distancing in mind.
@JusticeForJoe: yeah she seems great but does she know any movie quotes?
@Rory J Leonard: That’s all fair but we haven’t reacted for weeks at all. I was still in an office with around 500 people for 2 further weeks after Paddy Day was cancelled and my son taken out of school. At that time we had also tourists come in.
We are 7 months in and guards wouldn’t even have gotten the power to enforce any travel restrictions.
@Togs: It’s hope so, Togs. I just hope so.
Moving the infected, close contacts , their families ( including children) and also travellers to forced quarantines. This is New Zealand. I wonder would people still be praising it if it was your family being taken by the army:
“ if anyone moves into a common area or is getting some fresh air, which is all monitored, no one can do it on their own. They can only leave… or, um, be in a space to get a little bit of fresh air if they are supervised, because of course it’s a quarantine facility.”
“500 defence force personnel deployed for security at the 32 quarantine facilities in the country. (…)making sure that no one has the ability to enter or exit the facility without permission. The facilities have bolstered CCTV systems to keep track of the “guests” staying on the grounds.”
@Isabel Oliveira: Sounds fine to me! Delivers the results and its not like its forever.
@Isabel Oliveira: lol… Where did you get this drivel. You make it sound like a nazi concentration camp. I have friends who returned to NZ. They quarantined in a plush hotel for 2 weeks with all meals provided. We’re given time to wander the grounds daily and it was all paid for. When the two weeks were up they could go free, no masks, no restrictions, no covid.
If you somehow catch covid in a country where there’s none yes your quarantined and treated untill you are well and non contagious. Eh that’s how they have no covid on their country. If our clowns had have been onto it… Being a way Smaller island and all… We could have done the same
@Isabel Oliveira: 25 deaths, 1886 cases. That is NZ. We had 1296 cases yesterday.This is Ireland
@Billy O’Brien: yes I know some people are fine with gross abuses of power and undignified medieval non therapeutical interventions. Self preservation & fear do turn even the most democratic into authoritarians. Luckily most people wouldn’t permit that.
@Billy O’Brien: But it is forever.
@Isabel Oliveira: needs must. Country befire anything. Great job she done
@Cupid Stunt: where did you think of that dribble. A lot more holes in our immigration entry points.
@Isabel Oliveira: Medieval?! Ah here… Come on. Do you wake up every morning feeling hard done by? It must be an awful way to live.
@Billy O’Brien: yes. Medieval incompatible with democracy and ethics. No. I wake up just fine Billy.
@Cupid Stunt: THERE TO BUSY LOOKING AFTER THE BOY CLUB’S
@Isabel Oliveira: Try another one , we are on to you .
@Isabel Oliveira: NZ doesn’t run a feudal society as far as I know. As for unproven therapeutic interventions, their actions are preventative, hence no need for therapy. Eden Park was full last night- the peasants must have been rejoicing…
@Isabel Oliveira: It happens in Vietnam as well, you get to choose the location of a hospital or a hotel and then stay there for 2 weeks, with food delivered to your door. Then after 2 weeks you get tested and if you have the all clear you can be in the country. Its not bad, its inconvenient for sure but if you want to be there for work purposes I would have no problem going to a country with such a system. Get the head out of the sand and actually imagine how much better we would be if we had implemented something similar with an all island approach instead of the wishy washy form we gave passengers, many that flouted the guidelines anyway.
@Isabel Oliveira: She has taken fast drastic actions to prevent a virus coming into the country which let to martial law in some and a huge crisis for most countries.
There were already pictures from arenas full of people attending live events all over the net.
I would be all in for drastic measures from the beginning. This half arsed what we are doing here is just a band aid and if you do nothing you will have no working society either.
You can’t have it all atm.
@Billy O’Brien: But what good is it really? cases go back up as soon as society resumes. This was their second lockdown. No doubt a third will be in the near future.
@Billy O’Brien: Agree 100%!
Fantastic result for a true world leader .
Wonder if trump congratulated her yet. She stood up to him several times. She has been a good leader and deserves re-election
People need to wake up to this woman . She passed some pretty dirty remarks against the Irish months ago ..
@Seamus McKenzie: Such as?
@Seamus McKenzie: You mean the one where she thought we have done a terrible job at controlling the virus? Yeah, I wonder how she had the gall to make those claims!
@Seamus McKenzie:
She spoke the truth about the “Oirish” handling of the virus and the gombeen governmental guidance.
@Seamus McKenzie: correct, she’s a narcissist, when you have to push people down to elevate yourself it says it all, but she is good at it
@Paul Cunningham: first of all , comparing Ireland’s handling of covid was bang out of order . Her nearest neighbour is over two and half thousand KMs away . Much easier to manage and she is not part of any union like Ireland is. It was a cheap shot and did not sit well with the Irish community over here. I live in Australia.
Why are people talking like we did a terrible job compared to NZ? our first Lockdown was a huge success when it came to reducing the cases down to practically nothing, but it came at a huge economical cost and was hugely detrimental to other health services, which were badly enough run in the first place. When we finally came to the phased reopening of the country, people were rejoicing. The cases inevitably went back up, not just because society reopened, but because too many selfish entitled people were careless and irresponsible. So now we are back to restrictions. So what exactly is the problem here? New Zealand has finished their second Lockdown, and there will probably be a third and so on. Too much blaming the government and not enough taking personal responsibility.
She seems like a a great leader but God, what a terrible accent
@Virgil: So What. ?.
@Virgil: fush and chups
@Virgil: ehhh Micky Martin!
@Virgil: Sexiest accent in the world apparently…
@Aine O Connor: this stuff is important (at least to someone like me who takes to heart Wilde’s maxim ‘always judge by an accent’ or was it appearance ?
Its the only way to get things done. It worked, didn’t it?
at least they could understand her look at our monkeys ffs
“JACINDA!! IT’S TIME FOR DINNER”
As someone who lives in Auckland, her campaign slogan really hit home
That’s good news for Ireland , it means Leo The Ego should be out on his ear! We need a Ms Ardern
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