The Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act in Ireland – older persons’ views

Abstract Introduction Nursing home costs can be prohibitively expensive for individuals and their families. As traditional providers withdraw from their role as carers, the cost increases for the state. Fair Deal was implemented on October 27th 2009 in Ireland, a national government scheme to fund nursing home placement. The aim of this new scheme was to equalise state support for public and private long-term care recipients. The aim of our study was to establish awareness and attitude towards Fair Deal in a day hospital population. Methods A questionnaire and information leaflet was provided to each participant. Baseline characteristics including age, sex, MMSE were evaluated. Parameters assessed were patient knowledge and attitude towards Fair Deal. Results Forty-six patients participated in our questionnaire. Mean MMSE was 26.46. Sixty-three percent of participants were female. Thirty-seven percent of patients had heard of Fair Deal and 10.2% of these patients understood its aims. Eighty-seven percent of patients thought Fair Deal could be improved on and 60.9% disagreed that “Fair Deal is fair”. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that in a day hospital population, the majority of our patients had not previously heard of Fair Deal and those that had, did not know what it meant. A scheme that promotes fairness to all participants and transparency failed in its efforts to provide a clear message to its potential participants. It is essential that a scheme that is rooted in fairness and clarity should inform its target population, or it will fail in its aim.