LEGISLATION FOR the "fair deal" scheme for State support of nursing home care will be published within the next two weeks and funding will be dealt with in next month's Budget, according to Minister of State for Health Máire Hoctor.
But Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said that the delay in the €110 million scheme was "having a huge impact on our hospitals".
He highlighted the case of an 80-year-old man who fell last week at 11pm after being sent home from Beaumont hospital and was "found on the floor the next day at 10am covered in his own faeces".
Calling for the €85 million diverted this year from the scheme in the summer cutbacks to be put backed into subvention to allow people to avail of long-stay care, he said that it would "take the pressure off the hospitals".
Under the proposed fair deal scheme, the Government will cover the cost of nursing home care, repayable from the individuals' estates after their death.
Dr Reilly said that "patients in north Dublin can't get into Beaumont hospital because the beds are filled with people who can't be discharged".
There were "22 beds per 1,000 over-65s in the country for long-stay and rehab.
"In north Dublin, where we have the second highest population of over 65 there are only three beds," he said.
There was a new, modern facility in Balrothery North Dublin with 40 spare beds "and yet there are people screaming for beds in Beaumont and the Mater. Three weeks ago, the Mater had 130 people waiting for discharge. AE had discharged all its patients into day-care beds and surgery couldn't take place that day," Dr Reilly said.
The Minister of State said the "undesirable delay" occurred because of legal issues and that had to be cleared before the Bill could come before Government for approval.
She said €13 million from the scheme went to the provision of 200 contract beds and a further "€12 million in meeting the costs associated with nursing home subventions and existing contract beds".
