Fair Deal nursing home scheme to receive €44m extra funding

The Government is to provide €44 million in additional funding to the Fair Deal nursing home scheme as part of an initiative to tackle emergency department overcrowding.

The money will be used to finance an extra 1,600 nursing home places and to reduce waiting times for accessing the scheme from 11 weeks at present to 4 weeks.

The Government is also to provide €30 million to cover the cost of additional temporary contract beds until June and additional permanent community, convalescence and district hospital beds.

The move is designed to facilitate more rapid discharge of patients from hospital.

The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said overcrowding in hospitals had eased since reaching a peak in January.

However he said additional measures were required as the number of patients who had completed their acute hospital treatment but who remained in a bed still stood at about 700.