A five-month wait for a nursing home bed is no Fair Deal
Analysis from Irish Independent on 7 November 2014.
Yesterday Minister for Health Leo Varadkar declared his dissatisfaction with the fact that there are over 2,000 older people waiting 15 weeks for nursing home care. And now that the fourfold increase in the numbers of older people waiting for nursing home beds has hit the public radar, Minister Varadkar and Minister for Older People Kathleen Lynch have a “plan”. (more…)
Waiting for others to die – the only way to get a nursing home bed
HSE figures released today (1 September) reveal that 1,100 older people who are medically in need of a nursing home place and have been through a rigorous financial assessment are languishing on a waiting list for that bed. When the Nursing Home Support Scheme (the so-called Fair Deal) was launched less than two years ago it was heralded as “accessible, affordable and anxiety free”. Obviously it is proving to be none of these (it is not accessible for those on the waiting list, it is not affordable for the State as it as run out of money and it is not anxiety free for the older people and their families who wait for a nursing home bed) so what does the Fair Deal waiting list mean for those on it and why is there a waiting list? (more…)
Uphill struggle ahead as Reilly finishes first term in health
As the political season ends and James Reilly gives an upbeat speech to the MacGill summer school, immense challenges face him now and when the autumn season begins… (more…)
No surprise that ‘Fair Deal’ has run out of money
Just 20 months old, the nursing home support scheme (named the Fair Deal) has run out of money, so what will happen older people in need of nursing home care and why are we only hearing about this now? (more…)
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