NHI accuses HSE of using Trump visit to bury public nursing home fees
Wednesday June 5, 2019HSE today publishes Fair Deal figures that are dated January 2019
5th June 2019: Nursing Homes Ireland today accused the HSE of trying to bury the fees payable to its nursing homes during the President Trump visit.
Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland, said the figures, which are dated January 2019, could have gone been published by the HSE at any stage in the last six months but it chose today, one of the busiest news day of the year with President Trump in Ireland.
“To make matters worse, the HSE has been hiding the figures for the 15 months since it last published the fees payable to its nursing homes under Fair Deal,” Mr Daly said. “The 15 month delay had followed on from previous five years of non-publication by the HSE of its fees. It is no coincidence that the day the American President is in town, the HSE has taken the decision to relent and finally publish the fees payable to its 110+ nursing homes. It represents cynical media management by the HSE and represents a sad day for transparency.”
“Nursing Homes Ireland has been demanding for months for the HSE to publish the spend by it on its nursing homes under Fair Deal. The fees paid to the private and voluntary nursing homes are published every month on the HSE website and are a matter of constant transparency. The reality is that there is no oversight of HSE spend. It continuously blocks publication of the fees its homes are paid under Fair Deal. The HSE’s continuous blocking of the publication of the fees it pays itself has consistently contravened the Department of Health’s recommendation about transparency in 2015. Then the Department had recommended the Executive should be publicly publishing its fees at least once a year.
“When the fees were last published in March 2017, they revealed HSE homes were being paid an average 60% more per resident per week by comparison with private and voluntary counterparts. Within some counties HSE homes were being paid fees that were up to three times those payable to private and voluntary counterparts.
“The publication this evening, coinciding with the President Trump visit, is a deliberate attempt to keep a lid on the reality of what the HSE is paying its nursing homes, per resident under the scheme. It is a cynical attempt at a cover-up and concealment. Once we have the opportunity, Nursing Homes Ireland will undertake a forensic analysis of the fees to assess the extent of the ongoing discriminatory practice being operated within the nursing home sector,” Mr Daly promised.
ENDS
For further information contact Michael McGlynn, Nursing Homes Ireland Communications and Research Executive at 01 4699806 or 087 9082970.