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Updated 22.50pm
WAITING LISTS FOR nursing homes are “spiralling out of control” ALONE has warned.
The charity, which supports older people in need, has condemned the fifteen week waiting lists currently facing applicants of the HSE’s Fair Deal Scheme.
Under the initiative, a person requiring nursing home care can make a contribution towards the cost while the State pays the balance.
The number of people on the Fair Deal waiting list has tripled from 654 in February to over 2,100 at present.
Last week, Health Minister Leo Varadkar told the Oireachtas Health Committee that “there may well be delays in the assessment”.
He added that “the real problem with the Fair Deal scheme is that it is budget-capped, which is in the legislation”.
It is not like medicines that have to be reimbursed or medical cards that happen to be issued if the person is entitled to them. The entitlement to the Fair Deal scheme is budget-capped, and when the budget runs out that is part of the big problem.
Sean Moynihan, Chief Executive Officer of ALONE, has called on the Government to act now before the situation gets any worse.
“The problem is really spiralling out of control, older people are being left in acute hospital beds or the responsibilities are being pushed back on families to care for them.
The Government needs to step in with a contingency plan, last week Varadkar alluded to the fact that the budget for this scheme has been used up for 2014, but this is simply not acceptable for the 2,100 older people on the waiting list.
Moynihan stated that the health service needs to set goals for reducing the waiting list for nursing home beds.
“There is too much focus on private nursing homes and public nursing homes are being neglected. From our point of view, community services and as much the answer as nursing home care – with increased local supports more older people would be able to live independently within their community.
“Studies have proven that remaining with the community is the preferred option for many older people and it’s far more economically viable,” he concluded.
Speaking to the media today, Varadkar said that some of the extra €25 million allocated to free up hospital beds occupied by patients ready to be discharged in 2015 will go towards the Fair Deal Scheme.
First published at 9.46am
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Isn’t it amazing that the families of the victims of the disaster are expected to pay legal fees when a drug dealer s unmbag can get free legal aid.
Just pay the bill Enda
He will only pay it if they sign away everything, so another well connected gangster will get away with murder and the victims family’s can FCUK off pure and simple
If there is an agreement in place it should be honored immediately. This is such an emotionally charged case and these people have been thru enough,please do the decent thing. I remember the event well even tho I was only 10 yrs old. Myself my sister and two neighbours set up a garage sale on the side of the road,we gave the proceeds to the local priest to give to the victims fund. The images on TV are still as vivid today to me as they were 33 yrs ago. An absolute tragic event that should never be forgotten .
I’m sure you just asked the government to do the right thing. Not going to happen unless the legal team are friends of FG.
I bet you every Gov politican would have promised to help them when they were in opposition but like every dog in the corner they will run away when challenged on their promise’s…also Happy Gilmore is out in Brussels trying to fix the problems in the Ukraine so don’t bother contacting him about it anyway
One should be careful about accepting promises from any government unless one is Ibec, RTE, a bank or a bondholder, multi-national or part of the farming lobby or some other part of the establishment; or a friend of a leading politician. That is show it is in Ireland.
When you see the word ‘promise’ in the same sentence as the word ‘politician’, the first word to enter your mind should be ‘lie’.
1st word is – It better be written down.
These are families that have never healed or gotten closure for their grief and loss. Could’nt Butterly toss in a few Euro’s towards this as well, seeing as how he did so well financially & legally out of the deaths of 48 young people on his sub-standard premises!!!
“They are agreeable to having their costs measured on the basis of all work done in connection with the above hearings”
Question. How much will the Governments charge for measuring that all work done was in connection with the hearings? I bet it’s more than €192k.
The Stardust Disaster was one of the most appalling tragedies to ever happen in this State and appropriately a Judicial Enquiry was held to uncover the cause even though we were all well informed at the time as to the likely cause. Jam factories are hardly ever likely to be suitable buildings for night clubs and especially when Emergency exit doors are chained and locked while large numbers are on the premises.
The Government should urgently look at this request but the problem is that the survivors are still demanding another Judicial Enquiry into the tragedy and someone has to eventually suggest we stop as its not going to be resolved after so many years no matter how awful the loss and cause.
Well, that explains a lot.
Finally, i’ve copped on. This whole Journal.ie site, it’s a load of horse shite. Set up for eejits, to make bigger eejita of themselves, but pretending to be about truth. I’m outa here, gone, bye bye.
Is this money owed to the grieving families or to a bunch of greedy lawyers?
Geraldine Foy has given us the power to fight on and only for her we wouldn’t have gotten this far
have your say