Nursing home support scheme 2009

The new government Fair Deal scheme for funding nursing home care has commenced as of the 27th October 2009.

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme provides financial support towards the cost of long- term nursing home care. Under the scheme, people who need nursing home care have their income and assets assessed, and then make a contribution towards the cost of the care based on their assessment. The HSE will pay the rest, if any, of the costs of their care on public and registered private nursing homes covered under the scheme.

Applications are made to your local Nursing Home Support Office on the standard application form which is available at www.dohc.ie/issues/fair_deal/ . In summary, there are three steps involved in the application process.

Step 1 is an application for a Care Needs Assessment. The Care Needs Assessment identifies whether or not you need long-term nursing home care. It will be carried out by appropriate healthcare professionals, for example a nurse etc and will consider whether you can be supported to continue living at home or whether long term nursing care is more appropriate.

Step 2 is an application for state support. This will be used to complete the Financial Assessment which determines your contribution to care and your corresponding level of financial assistance (“State support”). The Financial Assessment looks at your income and assets in order to work out what your contribution to care will be. The HSE will then pay the balance of your cost of care.

Step 3 is an optional step which should be completed if you wish to apply for the Nursing Home Loan (“Ancillary State Support”). Where your assets include land and property, the contribution based on such assets may be deferred. This means that you do not have to find the money to pay this contribution during your lifetime. Instead, the HSE will pay the money on your behalf and it will be collected after your death. This benefit of the scheme is called the “Nursing Home Loan”. In order to apply for the Nursing Home Loan you must provide written consent to having a Charging Order registered against your asset. If you are part of couple, your spouse/partner must also request the payment of the loan and you must both consent to having the charging Order registered against the interest of you and your partner in the asset. The charging order is a simple type of mortgage which secures the money loaned by the HSE.

If a person does not have the capacity to consent to the Nursing Home Loan and the Charging Order, a Care Representative will need to be appointed to act on his/her behalf. The Care Representative is appointed by the Circuit Court. Their role is to act on behalf of the person in respect of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme and especially in respect of the Nursing Home Loan. They can also act on behalf of the person in relation to making an application for a Care Needs Assessment, State Support, or any other matter relating to the scheme. The application for appointment must be made to the County Registrar in any county in the Circuit in which the person requiring a care representative now lives or in which he or she has lived at any time during the past three years. Once your application has been assessed the HSE will provide you with a list of nursing homes. The list will include public, voluntary and approved private nursing homes.

Should you require any assistance with your application or any further information regarding the above please contact us now by email to greg@gns.ie or by telephone on 091 582942.