Nursing Home Support Scheme (‘Fair Deal’)

If you need nursing home care, you may qualify for financial support from the HSE under the Nursing Home Support Scheme, also known as ‘Fair Deal’ http://www.dohc.ie/issues/fair_deal/
Application forms (for the scheme are available at our reception desk, from your local Nursing Home Support Office, or from the HSE website. nhssappform.pdf) 
If you need assistance with any part of the application, please ask. If we can’t answer the question, we will refer it to the HSE for a response.
The application form must be signed by the applicant and sent to the HSE. Where the applicant is unable to sign the form him/herself due to reduced capacity to make decisions (i.e. diminished mental capacity), a specified person may sign on his/her behalf. If necessary an application may have to made to the Circuit Court to have a Care Representative appointed. Details of this are covered in the HSE Information Booklet (nhssbooklet.pdf)

The application process contains three steps:

Step 1 is an application for a Care Needs Assessment.
The Care Needs Assessment identifies whether you need long-term nursing home care. It will be carried out by healthcare professionals, for example, a nurse etc., and will consider whether you can be supported to continue living at home or whether long-term nursing home care is more appropriate.  You  must be assessed as needing long-term nursing home care to be eligible for State support or the Nursing Home Loan.

Step 2 is an application for State Support and this will be used to complete the Financial Assessment which determines your contribution to care and your corresponding level of financial assistance (“State support”).
The Financial Assessment looks at your income and assets in order to work out what your contribution to care will be. All of the relevant information will have been supplied on the initial application form.
You will contribute 80% of your income and 5% of the value of any assets per annum. The HSE will then pay the balance of your cost of care. For example, if the cost of your care is €720 per week and your weekly contribution was €175, then you will be asked to pay your contribution in advance of=n a fortnightly/monthly basis and the HSE will pay the weekly balance of €545. This payment by the HSE is called State support.

Step 3 is an optional step which should be completed if you wish to apply for the Nursing Home Loan (“Ancillary State support”).
Where your assets include land and property, the contribution based on such assets may be deferred. This means that you do not have to find the money to pay this contribution during your lifetime. Instead, if approved, the HSE will pay the money on your behalf and it will be collected after your death. This is an optional benefit of the scheme called the “Nursing Home Loan”.
In order to apply for the Nursing Home Loan you must provide written consent to having a simple type of mortgage, “a Charging Order”, registered against your asset. The HSE will make and register the Charging Order. You will not need to do anything (although the HSE may need to check with you about the information in your application).

Portumna Retirement Village offers independent living, dignity, security and peace of mind.