Nursing homes: The urgent need to provide a more equitable balance of Government funding between the public and private nursing home sectors has been highlighted by Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney.
Pointing out that 90 per cent of the cost of the public sector was subsidised compared with only 25 per cent of the private sector, Ms Harney said she was very anxious to end this anomaly.
She stressed that the Government did not want any elderly person to be forced to sell or remortgage their home to pay for nursing care and she encouraged family members to look at the various tax options available.
"The Government will not be able to afford to totally fund long-term care of the elderly. The way forward as I see it would be for the State to pay two-thirds of the cost while the family pay the remaining one-third.
"Of course, families without means would not be expected to cover this cost but where people have the means, they should pay up to one-third of the cost of care," she said.
Ms Harney said the Cabinet would be making a decision on policy for long-term care of the elderly over the next few weeks and any policy needed to be coherent so that older people and their families knew exactly what they were entitled to.
Speaking at the opening of the €6 million state-of-the-art Village nursing care centre at Craughwell, Co Galway yesterday, the Minister said this facility was the way forward in care for the elderly in this country. "I don't think you would get better facilities in a hotel never mind a home. I have never seen a nursing care facility as developed before in Ireland. This is the future of care for the elderly and as we go forward, we need more facilities of this kind," she said, adding that she was tempted to put her own name down on the waiting list.
Noting that only 20 of the facility's 78 beds were occupied, Ms Harney said she hoped that a "sensible arrangement" over the purchasing of beds could be worked out between the HSE and the Village.
Situated on a seven-acre landscaped site, the Village has a wide range of medical facilities including physiotherapy, rehabilitation and chiropody. Residents can unwind in the wine and juice bar, soak in the hydrotherapy pool or have a treatment in the spa, watch a favourite movie in the cinema and have their hair and nails done in the hair and beauty salon.
Founder and owner of the Village, Dr Hussain Bhatti, said weekly rates start at €575 for a semi-private room (of which there are 54), and rise to €900 for a luxury room en suite with a conservatory or private garden.
During her visit to Galway yesterday, Ms Harney announced that funding was to be provided to open an additional 22 beds at University College Hospital Galway to alleviate the pressure on the A&E department there.
She also opened a €22 million Áras Moyola health sciences facility at NUI Galway which brings together the university's centre for nursing and midwifery studies, department of occupational therapy, department of political science and sociology and department of speech and language therapy under one roof.
