The discrepency between costs in public and private nursing homes may be down to different levels of care, Minister for Health Simon Harris has said.
A HSE report published on Wednesday revealed the cost of accommodating a patient in a publicly-run nursing home was up to €700 per week higher than in a private facility.
The costs in public, long-stay residential centres range from €884 to €2,089 a week. Under the Government’s Fair Deal scheme for private nursing homes, the range is from €685 to €1,325 a week.
Mr Harris said it was important to acknowledge that there was a “complexity of need” catered for in the public health service.
“It is not as simple as comparing and contrasting one with the other,” he said.
“What we will have after the publication of this report will be the cost of nursing home care and the difference between public and private.
“We are moving into a space where my department will be carrying out a review of value for money into the Fair Deal scheme. This report will help inform that.
“There is a role for the public and private in this. It is about patient choice. It is about ensuring that families also have choice. We’re going to make significant investment in the public nursing home system.”
Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI), however maintained the Minister was inaccurate in stating that HSE nursing homes were dealing with morecomplex cases.. It said this was borne out by independent research.
It accused the State of abusing its dominant position in the sector.
NHI, which represents the private and voluntary nursing home sector, argued that the State was operating a system that discriminated against the private and voluntary sector.
It said private and voluntary nursing homes were forced by the State to provide care for half the amount that the HSE paid for its own nursing homes.
NHI called on the State to “immediately engage” with the private and voluntary nursing home sector to provide for the true costs incurred of meeting the high dependency care needs of residents in private and voluntary nursing homes.
NHI chief executive Tadhg Daly said the State was "discriminating in a scandalous way against private and voluntary provider".
“The State is operating a two-tier funding system and has fought for five years not to disclose these figures. It is unacceptable that private and voluntary providers are forced to provide care for fees way below those paid to the HSE counterparts.”
“It is a case of one law for HSE operated nursing homes and a completely different one for the private and voluntary providers who are squeezed into accepting fees that are not reflective of the true cost of providing care,” he said.
Sepately the HSE said it is to hold talks under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission with trade unions on introducing consistent staffing levels and skillmix ratios in publc nursing homes.
Previous talks with trade unions aimed at introducing reforms in this were unsuccessful.
