Decision to cut nursing homes’ Covid fund denounced as ‘deplorable’

Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has heavily criticised the Government’s “deplorable” decision to end Covid-19 supports for nursing homes .

In letters to the HSE, the organisation’s chief executive, Tadhg Daly, said he found the decision to cut funding support to nursing homes “hugely concerning”.

Mr Daly was referring to a Government decision to cease the temporary assistance payment scheme (Taps), effective from June 30th this year.

The scheme was announced in April 2020 by the Minister for Health as a measure to support private and voluntary nursing homes with additional costs due to the Covid-19 crisis.

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The standard assistance payment element of the scheme was ceased from July 1st, while the outbreak assistance element was extended until the end of the year, or until sanctioned funding for 2021 is exhausted.

Nursing Homes Ireland represents more than 400 private and voluntary nursing homes. Such homes have accounted for 62 per cent of the 3,509 deaths linked to outbreaks of Covid-19 in Ireland since the beginning of the pandemic.

With cases now on the rise again, the NHI wants the Government to reintroduce Taps.

In a letter to chief executive of the HSE Paul Reid, released under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Daly wrote that "the scheme has fulfilled an integral role in contributing to the additional costs and supporting implementation of intensified infection prevention control measures within private and voluntary nursing homes".

Such measures were recommended by public health and the Covid-19 nursing homes expert panel, he said. They encompassed increased deployment of staff and introduction and extra utilisation of specialised equipment to meet the changed care practice in nursing homes.

“Yet, the only means available to resource some of the additional costs incurred to sustain them is to end with no replacement in place,” he wrote.

No replacement

The nursing home sector “cannot countenance why the decision has been taken to withdraw the scheme minus any replacement”, Mr Daly wrote.

It was “deplorable that the State is cutting vital funding support”, the letter read.

NHI met Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and Minister of State for Older People Mary Butler in October and wrote to them again in early November seeking the return of the scheme.

“Clearly the pandemic isn’t over and Taps was there to ensure that we can continue to safeguard both residents and staff in nursing homes,” Mr Daly told The Irish Times. “One of the things you don’t need now is nursing homes to close beds or being able to function. The staff at this stage are exhausted. It would be appropriate and right in my mind that Taps is reinstated because it is for legitimate costs incurred.”

Mr Daly wrote a second letter to Mr Reid in July to seek clarification on the matter.

In a reply in mid-August, Mr Reid wrote that it was “important to highlight that a range of supports and services remain in place to support the private nursing home sector”.

This included the provision of PPE, staff accommodation and other supplies, he said.

“Taps was but one of the supports available to the private nursing home sector during the pandemic,” he wrote, adding that the outbreak assistance element of the scheme would remain and would “provide extra financial support to any nursing home that may experience an outbreak”.

The Department of Health confirmed that as of the end of October, 8,134 claims had been processed, and €134 million made available under the scheme for 2020 and 2021.

Due to the ongoing high level of risk associated with Covid-19, the Department of Health extended the scheme twice, “far beyond the originally planned timescale of three months,” a spokeswoman for the Department said.