Eviction orders against 11 elderly patients at a nursing home in Cork were withdrawn yesterday following talks between the Southern Health Board and the Department of Health.
The notices were to have come into effect today and the 11th-hour reprieve followed two days of talks between the board and the Department. The decision not to go ahead with the evictions prevented embarrassment for the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, as the home was in his Cork South Central constituency.
At issue was the claim by the Powder Mill Nursing Home in Ballincollig that it was losing £1,700 a week because of the Southern Health Board's failure to pay an increased subvention for the 11 patients which would have made up the difference between the £400 weekly charge at the home and their pensions.
A spokesman for the home, which caters for 45 inmates, said that, typically, elderly inmates would receive £100 a week by way of pension, out of which they would keep £20 for themselves. The Southern Health Board would then make up the shortfall, which was due to have been paid from an enhanced subvention agreed by the Government but not so far made available through the Southern Health Board.
"The discharge notices have been withdrawn and the long-term future for the 11 elderly people concerned is now assured," the spokesman said.
In a statement, the board indicated that as a short-term measure to overcome the difficulty, monies provided to it for extra accommodation in nursing homes during the winter would be diverted. A spokesman for the board said this would not affect the provision of extra winter beds. "Discussions are continuing between the board and the Department in relation to the overall funding issues involved in the scheme and the enhanced subvention arrangements," the statement said.
It is understood that one other patient in a Macroom nursing home would have been affected because of the subvention row but this case has now also been resolved.