Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Families of residents who will be 'kicked out' of Cork nursing home urge Taoiseach to step in

The families claimed that Minister Mary Butler has only written to the most “vocal families” to offer them help finding other accommodation for their loved ones, but has not engaged with others.

SOME OF THE FAMILIES OF residents in a Cork nursing home that recently exited the Fair Deal scheme have refused to meet with Minister for Older People Mary Butler. 

The group have grave concerns for their 53 relatives who they say will soon be “kicked out”of Beaumont Residential Care, which is in a suburb outside of Cork city, as the company that owns the home – CareChoice – opted to pull out of the Fair Deal scheme as they said it was no longer affordable. 

They claim that since they called for the Government to intervene in the situation, Minister Butler has written to some – but not all – of the affected families and made offers to help them source alternative accommodation for their relatives. 

The company, which is owned by a French investment fund and operates homes in 14 locations in Ireland, said that the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is paying lesser rates under the scheme for their Beaumont location than it is to other nursing homes in Cork. 

CareChoice claims that they have tried to engage with the NTPF and the Department of Health for months prior to taking the difficult decision to pull out of the scheme, which sees the State finance part of an older person’s residential care costs. 

The Journal understands that the NTPF has engaged with CareChoice since they opted to pull the home out of the Fair Deal Scheme, but the families have been informed that it is the view of the NTPF that the Department of Health would be responsible for increasing funding available to be spent on the scheme. 

The families of 53 residents, some of which have dementia and other significant health conditions, now have until the end of this month to come up with the money to pay full private fees to stay on, or source alternative accommodation for their loved ones. 

Sheila 95-year-old Sheila Healy who lives at the home.

Nina Olden, the daughter of 95-year-old resident Sheila Healy, told The Journal last week that the sudden news was extremely difficult for her family, and that they believe it would be “cruel’ for her to be moved to a new location at this stage of her life. 

However, Nina said that her family did receive a generic letter from Minister Butler’s office, and that they have not been made aware of any offer of a meeting with the Minister.

Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly told TJ that without a change in the pricing mechanism of Fair Deal, it is “inevitable” that more nursing homes will pull out, leaving a greater number of families in this distressing situation. 

Rosie Roccaforte, whose mother is one of the longest-term residents at the home has claimed that the State’s response to the crisis has not been in good faith, and has instead been aimed at blocking the “progress”of the group who are campaigning for State intervention. 

“It appears to us that Minister Butler is trying to reassure some of the more vocal families involved that she will secure alternative accommodation, but she is not offering this to all residents.

“The real issue is that we don’t want alternative accommodation, we want our loved ones to remain in Beaumont Residential Care, as they are perfectly entitled to,” she said. 

Roccaforte said that the families have now written directly to the Taoiseach himself, in the hope that as a former “medical professional” he will show “empathy and understanding” towards their situation. 

The families have been told by CareChoice that the HSE, through the NTPF, is paying €738 less per resident per week under the Fair Deal scheme to Beaumont Residential care than it is to public nursing home residents.

They are to protest tomorrow outside the offices of Tanaiste Micheál Martin, and ministers Simon Coveney and Michael McGrath. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said that Minister Butler understands how “distressing” this situation has been for the families and residents, and that her office receives a “high level of correspondence”and endeavours to get back to people in a timely manner. 

The spokesperson further stated that the NTPF met with Beaumont Residential care, and will meet the company that owns the home again this week.

“Both parties need to be given space and time to go through the agreed process. Engagement between the nursing home provider and the NTPF is the only way to resolve this issue,”they added.

The spokesperson said that should the residents at the home be asked to leave at the end of the month, the HSE will step in and house them as the “statutory provider as a last resort”.

“The HSE will always support families in a situation where a private nursing home is no longer able or willing to provide care under Fair Deal to a loved one,” they further added.

“The only mechanism for funding from the public purse for nursing home residents is Fair Deal and it is really important that private and voluntary providers continue to engage in the process

“The NTPF has statutory independence, and there is no role for Ministers or the Department of Health in negotiations with individual nursing homes,”the Department of Health stated.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
53 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob
    Favourite Rob
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 1:38 AM

    All this does means is that in 30yrs we have to go through all this again. It’s time the air was cleared, no more secrets.

    153
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Côte D’oherty
    Favourite Côte D’oherty
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    The Catholic Church is one of the most despicable institutions that has ever been imposed on us. Shame on whoever facilitated they’re reign of terror

    207
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Côte D’oherty
    Favourite Côte D’oherty
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 12:18 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: their *

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Harris
    Favourite Tony Harris
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 12:45 AM

    @Côte D’oherty: “we” facilitated it. They weren’t the Stasi, they weren’t the Gestapo, we flocked to them in our millions.

    95
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Côte D’oherty
    Favourite Côte D’oherty
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 1:07 AM

    @Tony Harris: agreed

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor Donoghue
    Favourite Trevor Donoghue
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 4:37 AM

    @Tony Harris: Back then they were not the stasi or the gestapo, they were worse , The people feared the Stasi and gestapo because they were all afraid of them, they knew exactly what monsters they were and they would take your lives. The Church did worse because they were doing unspeakable evil disguised as God’s good work and people were good catholics, and we did not facilitate it, we were trying to save our very souls, not simply our lives. And you did not ever go against the church back then if you even wanted a life, or a job, or even to be part of the community you lived it. And the Church still need a long, long way to go to pay for the evil they have done.

    102
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Doran
    Favourite Tony Doran
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 7:45 AM

    @Trevor Donoghue: Well said. People need to wake up and realise how oppressive it was for the Irish people living under those conditions, fearing the church and having to get in line, be good little Catholics or else!

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
    Favourite ÓDuibhír Abú
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 8:02 AM

    @Tony Harris: From the; Cradle to the Grave, the Roman Church Brain washed people.

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
    Favourite ÓDuibhír Abú
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 8:05 AM

    @Tony Harris: When I look back, and Remember Grown Men, Elected Representatives of Dáil Éireann, bending down on their; Knee Kissing the Hand Of the Bishops.

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Justin Gillespie
    Favourite Justin Gillespie
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 9:13 AM

    @ÓDuibhír Abú: This is what happens when anyone gets unchecked power over someone else. What happened in church & state run institution’s was criminal & shameful & it need to be exposed but don’t think for one minute that abuse nó longer takes place.
    What goes on behind closed doors is equally horrific, the numbers of calls to Childline support this, & we need to beef up ways of allowing victims to reach out for help.

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ÓDuibhír Abú
    Favourite ÓDuibhír Abú
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 1:09 PM

    @Justin Gillespie: Difference is; an Organization claiming to be representatives of God on earth. Claiming to be protectors of the; Faith, but have destroyed it by their; Ungodly actions.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute paul mccoy
    Favourite paul mccoy
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 12:55 AM

    Typical of this government. Bury it and it’s like it never happened so we don’t have to answer any nasty questions from the public.

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bull McCabe
    Favourite Bull McCabe
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 12:17 AM

    Is there anything to be said to have another tribunal? That way it can be fully investigated and nobody will be prosecuted!

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Nugent
    Favourite Mary Nugent
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 7:42 AM

    Shame of a Nation the land of sorrows.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gerry Ryan
    Favourite Gerry Ryan
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 9:01 AM

    So Fine Gael have given the ok for comments

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rathminder
    Favourite Rathminder
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 9:19 AM

    I have no connection to the homes but think the idea of a records centre on the site of the Magdalene Laundry is fitting. It could include a library of the books and documents written documenting the history which saw the Irish government’s pattern of discarding any responsibility for the unfortunate. It is fitting for the site, much as the work houses turned into museums. The survivors must have a say in this, however.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Celtic Spirit
    Favourite Celtic Spirit
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 9:18 AM

    Bye bye Catholic church. And not before time. An absolute dispicable, vile cult that were given control over our country after independence. From the British Empire to the Holy Roman Empire of the Vatican.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan Greene
    Favourite Brendan Greene
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 10:01 AM

    @Celtic Spirit: it is very naive to imagine that these abuses are in some way related to Catholicism specifically rather than human nature. We now know that similar things occurred all over the world in settings that were entirely secular. All societies like scapegoats to avoid acknowledging our complicity in what happened.

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Celtic Spirit
    Favourite Celtic Spirit
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 1:04 PM

    @Brendan Greene: I wouldn’t agree with what you’ve said. The Catholic church as an institution were given free reign to do as they pleased without any retribution for their actions. They rules this country with an iron fist. People were conditioned plain and simple. The Irish people were too afraid to question the church in case they went to hell. That is the mark of a cult. Some of the victims then went on to abuse others making their victims secondary or proxy victims of the church.

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rob Duggan
    Favourite Rob Duggan
    Report
    Nov 5th 2020, 9:16 AM

    People and the state failed we still do. We used to blame the brits, now we project blame to the church. Families shunned their daughters. Aethiest regimes are as brutal as those led by a theocracy(ccp/ussr etc) . We need to look at the ugly truth of our own human behavior and rule of law.

    24
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds