More than 70 residents at a Cork nursing home are facing an uncertain future after being told it is leaving the Fair Deal scheme.
The development, which the home has blamed on “extreme financial pressure” caused by a shortfall in State support, is the latest blow to a sector that has seen more than 20 nursing home closures in little over a year.
Residents of Beaumont Residential Care and their families were told at a meeting on Wednesday night of the home’s decision to opt out of Fair Deal from the end of May.
CareChoice Group, which owns the home, said it would remain open but only for private residents.
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“We are deeply aware of the profound impact of this decision on the residents and their loved ones, who because of the approach of the National Treatment Purchase Fund [NTPF] are no longer covered by the Fair Deal scheme,” Stuart Murphy, chief executive of CareChoice, told The Irish Times.
“The decision to withdraw from the scheme is extremely regrettable and has been taken as a last resort.”
He said: “We do not want to see that happen and will be trying to resolve this situation with the NTPF and HSE [Health Service Executive] in the meantime.”
“Our hope is that if we can’t make progress with the NTPF, the HSE will cover the cost of keeping our residents in Beaumont. It’s within the HSE’s power to ensure that this does not happen and we are very anxious to have meaningful discussion[s] with them regarding this situation, which we have been unable to do to date.”
Mr Murphy said the gap between the funding provided by the NTPF and the actual cost of caring for residents has been widening due to cost of living increases across the economy.
Beaumont’s Fair Deal rate is lower than the rates agreed by the NTPF for other Fair Deal providers in Cork, he claimed.
The HSE has increased funding for the public nursing homes it runs by €183 per resident per week to meet inflationary pressures, while the NTPF, which negotiates rates with private nursing homes on the HSE’s behalf, had increased their funding by only €16 per week, he also said.
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CareChoice claimed there was already a €600 gap in weekly funding rates between NTPF rates and the rates the HSE pays its own nursing homes.
Last week, Nursing Homes Ireland, which represents private operators, said the gap in funding between HSE nursing homes and its members was a “discrimination” that was leading to the closure of many facilities. It claimed the funding gap between public and private nursing homes has widened to €744 per resident each week.
The NTPF declined to comment.
