The long-awaited Nursing Home Support Scheme (Amendment) Bill 2020 – also known as the Fair Deal Scheme – will be in place from October, according to the government.
Minister of State at the Department of Health Mary Butler, speaking at committee stage of the bill, said that “this is going on with three years – and I was so anxious to try and get this bill through”.
The bill is on track to go through the final Oireachtas stages in the next few weeks, to be brought to the Seaned after the Dáil goes into recess this month.
Delays due to cyber attack
“As long as I am minister for older people, the two key words are voice and choice. And their voice and their choice will be heard,” the minister told the committee.
“We are working really hard to try and see how we can get the creative thinking in an extremely complex issue that hasn’t been dealt with by the previous government.”
A number of deputies tabled an amendment for the bill to be brought into operation no more than 30 days after it is enacted. However, the minister said that this would not be possible, due to the HSE cyber security incident.
“My firm intention is that this legislation amendment is enacted and commenced as quickly as possible,” Minister Butler said.
“The changes to this scheme are complex and significant work needs to happen at the operational level in order to ensure that the system works smoothly from day one of these changes that come into effect.
“The recent cyber attack has had a significant effect on the HSE’s capacity. The attack impacted both the national Nursing Home Support Scheme office and the 15 national Nursing Home Support offices.
“The Nursing Home Support Scheme IT system is currently being rebuilt on new servers. Once this is completed, significant testing will be required before the system is transferred to a live environment.
“The testing is crucial when considering that the scheme controls and processes €1 billion in public money annually.
“We’re therefore not in a position to fully commence the provision within the 30 days but I do want to work with the deputies who have brought forward this amendment.”
Fair Deal bill commencement within 90 days
However, the minister said that she will bring an additional amendment to the bill at report stage “committing to commencement of the bill within 90 days – that would be just at the start of October”.
“My intention was always that we’d try and start it in September – but because of the cyber attack it has proved very, very difficult.”
The minister said she will be introducing a number of other amendments at report stage, the next stage, with some of those related to the treatment of rental income and the three-year cap.