Private and voluntary nursing homes launch campaign for rise in Fair Deal funding
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Nursing home managers from across the country launched a campaign for better funding to support private and voluntary homes outside the Dáil on Wednesday.
However, Mary Butler, minister of state for older people, said she is “astounded” at the Nursing Homes Ireland campaign as it comes just days after a budget boost of €72.2m.
Travelling from Killure Bridge Nursing Home, Waterford woman Mary Burke said competing with HSE wages is a challenge.
“The staff don’t leave us to go to another nursing home, they leave to go to the HSE, so we can see the drive is for extra money, extra benefits,” she said.
About 80% of nursing home beds are now in the private sector. The director of care said funding per resident to private homes from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) is not sufficient.
“The NTPF sets the rate that we charge, and the problem is we are not getting increases in line with what they pay the HSE. We’d love to pay our carers the same as the HSE but unfortunately we’re not,” she said.
A HSE carer might get €17/hr while at a standalone nursing home they pay €14/hr.
She cautioned: “The single-operator nursing homes are fading out, they’re very few now. A lot of the single operators have closed due to the pressures.”
Rosetta Herr, chief operations officer with Evergreen Care, oversees 12 homes including Teach Altra in Newmarket. Funding is the challenge, she said.
She called for support to “get ahead of these problems, we see what’s coming down the line”.
Residents are typically older now and need specialist care. “It’s the nursing element, the care element, it’s the understanding of what an older or frail person needs in a holistic way that’s important,” she said.
Homes struggling to recruit locally are turning to countries such as India. Wages are set under the work permit system.
“They deserve it and every penny, but the problem is the NTPF model is not set up to afford that,” she said, adding: “Our current staff also deserve to be paid very, very well.”
NHI CEO Tadhg Daly warned private homes receive “on average, €650 less per bed, per week, than those in HSE or public nursing homes” through the Fair Deal scheme.
Ms Butler is “astounded”, her spokeswoman said, with "over €550m in new funding" invested during her time as minister. “The Fair Deal scheme is fair by name and fair by nature. It has opened nursing home care to over 300,000 people who will never have to pay more than they can afford.”
Fair Deal — nursing home support scheme — funding increased from €968m in 2019 to €1.2bn for next year. Residents’ contributions come to about €300m annually.
“The number of residents this year sits at approximately 23,500. This is less than there was in 2019,” she said.
“This shows the impact of significant government funding for home care, day care and Meals on Wheels which is supporting people to age well in their own homes for longer.”
Homes who renegotiated fees this year received an average increase of 6%, she added.