Under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990, which was commenced on 1 September last, nursing home proprietors have one year in which to register with a health board. The Act, therefore, provides for the gradual registration of nursing homes with health boards. To date health boards have received 184 applications for registration from nursing homes, of which 60 were received during the month of November. So far 34 homes have been registered by health boards.
My Department was concerned that prior to the month of November, so few homes had applied for registration. It was drawn to my attention that the procedure for confirming that nursing homes had complied with fire safety requirements was causing difficulties and was delaying registration. My Department wrote to the health boards in November clarifying the procedures for registration of nursing homes in relation to confirmation that fire safety requirements were being met. This clarification is a major reason for the increase in applications for registration under the Act and it is expected that significant numbers of homes will be registered before the end of this year.
The Deputy will be pleased to know that my Department has established a group to monitor the implementation of the nursing homes Act comprising representatives of my Department, of health boards, of the principal nursing home associations and of the National Council for the Elderly, which is meeting regularly to monitor progress on implementation including the registration of nursing homes, and to advise on how difficulties encountered in the implementation of the Act can be resolved.
The Deputy will be interested to know that during the year following the commencement of the Act, health boards have discretion to pay nursing home subventions to persons who have qualified for the subventions, to nursing homes which have not yet registered under the Act.