€2600 difference between North and South Tipp Fair Deal costs – McGrath
Independent TD Mattie McGrath has called on the Minister for Health Leo Varadkar and the HSE to clarify why it costs South Tipperary participants in the Fair Deal Scheme an average €2600 extra per year to access the Scheme when compared to participants in North Tipperary. Deputy McGrath was speaking after he obtained the information from the HSE Head of Operations and Service Improvement Services for Older People via a Parliamentary Question:
“The numbers I have received show that the average weekly Nursing Home Supports Scheme contribution for South Tipperary is €281.75 while the equivalent contribution for North Tipp is €230.41.
They also reveal that North Tipp has the lowest weekly contribution level in the State for the entire Scheme.
Now while that is absolutely to be welcomed, the question must remain how a €50 gap can exist between the two costs for the same county.
This effectively means that it costs elderly participants in South Tipperary more than two and a half thousand extra per year.
This would mean that over even a four year period, that same South Tipperary elderly person would have paid an extra €10,400.
That is a considerable sum of money and it must be clearly and rationally justified,” concluded Deputy McGrath.
