Press release
Ministers for Health announce €10 million new scheme to support private and voluntary nursing homes with costs of energy inflation
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Health
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, have today announced the launch of the Temporary Inflation Payment Scheme (TIPS), an additional support to help private and voluntary nursing homes with inflationary energy cost increases from July to December 2022.
Minister Butler said:
"The government and I are keenly aware of the financial challenges faced by the nursing home sector in terms of inflationary cost increases, and we have worked to bring forward appropriate responses. It is a priority for me that all nursing homes providing care to residents under ‘Fair Deal’ are helped to manage temporary energy inflation costs and that residents’ lived experience and comfort is not affected."
The additional energy supports were announced as part of Budget 2023. A total of €10 million in further funding will be made available specifically for nursing homes, drawn from the €100 million once-off fund that has been allocated to support community-based health and social care service providers for 2022 cost increases related to energy inflation.
The Scheme will open for applications by 11 November at the latest and nursing homes will immediately be able to begin claiming for cost increases incurred since July, with increases calculated on a year-on-year monthly basis, for example, September 2022 energy costs in comparison to September 2021 energy costs. Nursing homes will be required to evidence relevant cost increases via bills, invoices or other relevant documentation.
Minister Butler stated:
"The new Scheme will see vouched, eligible year-on-year cost increases reimbursed up to 75%, up to a defined threshold of €5,250 per month for each nursing home. My aim is to make the application process for the Scheme as simple and easy as possible to make sure that nursing homes can access funding quickly."
The new Scheme will be rolled out using a similar process to the Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme (TAPS) which has been in place since the start of the pandemic. The National Treatment Purchase Fund will play a key role in administering the scheme.
Minister Butler continued:
"I am particularly conscious that increased energy costs can often disproportionately affect smaller, family-run and voluntary nursing homes that do not have the same access to economies of scale as larger nursing homes. The purpose of these additional supports is to make sure viable nursing homes do not experience difficulties in delivering services due to the rise in energy costs."
If nursing homes are eligible for other government support schemes, such as the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme introduced by the Finance Bill, they will not be eligible for TIPS in respect of the same costs over the same period.
The Temporary Inflation Payment Scheme will be kept under review and further funding of these supports will be looked at towards the end of this year.
Today’s announcement comes alongside further detail on planned measures to reform nursing home provision in Ireland.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said:
"Minister Butler and I are committed to ensuring that all future planning for residential care for older persons continues to place residents’ care, wellbeing and best interests at the centre of development.
"Nursing homes and the Nursing Home Support Scheme are an important part of the wider health and social care system with a net budget of over €1 billion, and over 22,500 residents supported. It is essential that all future plans for the nursing home sector continue to prioritise the best interests of residents while seeking value for money for the Exchequer."
The nursing home sector has changed in recent decades from a predominantly State-led service to a situation today where approximately 80% of nursing home services are provided by the private sector. Some 433 private nursing homes provide vital residential care to over 17,500 people on behalf of the State.
There are differences in the cost of care between public Community Nursing Units (CNUs) and private homes, with public, HSE-run CNUs generally having a higher cost of care. The HSE is staffed to deliver more complex care, typically with a higher nursing ratio per resident and a different skill mix to private nursing homes.
Minister Donnelly continued:
"Currently, residents in public nursing homes, which are often staffed to provide for higher dependency levels, represent less than 20% of Fair Deal scheme participants, meaning that the majority of State support is for residents in private care. The government, Minister Butler and I are committed to see greater public sector involvement in the residential care of older people in Ireland."
Planned sectoral reforms include a commitment to explore a new dedicated funding stream under the Nursing Home Support Scheme (NHSS) to reflect the different needs for dementia-specific nursing homes.
Minister Butler added:
"All residents requiring long-term residential care have the right to certainty regarding the quality, governance and oversight of their care. I am pleased to announce that it is my intention to seek a dedicated funding stream under the NHSS to reflect the costs associated with the provision of higher-dependency dementia-only care."
Minister Butler concluded:
"COVID-19 has highlighted the important need to move to new models of care for older people. This will involve short and long-term reform across Government. I intend to bring forward best practice guidelines to assist Local Authorities in their consideration of planning permission for the building of new nursing homes. This will help ensure that Local Authorities can adequately plan to meet future local long-term residential care needs and that new builds follow recognised international best practice principles in terms of location, design, capacity and recreation facilities."
A number of scenarios are outlined below to illustrate the potential TIPs schemes. Cost assumptions are purely hypothetical and for illustrative purposes only.
2021 monthly energy cost: €3,500
2022 monthly energy cost: €7,000
Cost increase: €3,500
Covered by scheme at 75%: €2,625 (below threshold)
2021 monthly energy cost: €7,000
2022 monthly energy cost: €10,000
Cost increase: €3,000
Covered by scheme at 75%: €2,250 (below threshold)
2021 monthly energy cost: €14,000
2022 monthly energy cost: €21,700
Cost increase: €7,700
Covered by scheme at 75%: €5,250 (threshold hit)