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	Irish Patients&rsquo; Association say suggestion amounts to &lsquo;sneaky stealth taxes&rsquo;</p>
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	A private nursing home in Dublin has claimed health authorities suggested it start charging residents for social programmes in order to make up for a cut in its State funding.</p>
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	Carysfort Nursing Home in Glenageary has written to residents and the Health Information and Quality Authority chairman Brian McEnery claiming Fair Deal funding for each patient is being cut by &euro;60 a week from next month.</p>
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	The Fair Deal scheme provides financial support to people who need long-term nursing home care.</p>
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	Under the scheme, patients make a contribution towards the cost of their care and the State pays the balance.</p>
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	The letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times , claims the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which oversees the scheme, has offered a rate of &euro;1,050 a week for each Fair Deal resident &ndash; a &euro;60 reduction.</p>
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	Edward Pakenham, who runs the nursing home, wrote: &ldquo;I am writing to you to answer the many questions that families have put to us over the past few weeks regarding of Fair Deal negotiations.</p>
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	&ldquo;The NTPF has offered us a rate of &euro;1,050 per week commencing April 1st, 2014, a reduction of &euro;60 per week for each resident.</p>
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	&ldquo;Twice during statutory negotiations the NTPF official in charge of our file suggested we make up this shortfall by placing a charge to our residents for social programmes, as we currently do not charge.&rdquo;</p>
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	&ldquo;I think it would be in your interest to contact NTPF chief executive Ian Carter to ask him why his officials are encouraging us to charge our residents for social programmes,&rdquo; the letter added.</p>
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	A statement from the National Treatment Purchase Fund did not address the matter of Mr Pakenham&rsquo;s claims regarding the charging of residents to make up the funding shortfall, but said &ldquo;private nursing homes may impose additional charges for incidentals/extras such as social programmes, transport, newspapers, hairdressing etc as these costs are not included in the cost of care&rdquo;.</p>
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	Irish Patients&rsquo; Association chairman Stephen McMahon said the suggestion &ndash; if true &ndash; amounted to &ldquo;sneaky stealth taxes&rdquo;.<br />
	&ldquo;If this is true, for many of the most vulnerable elderly members in our society, such increases are basically sneaky stealth taxes,&rdquo; he said.</p>
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	&ldquo;They are not negotiable and, unlike the minister for finance, do not have the backing of D&aacute;il &Eacute;ireann which approves of such taxation proposals.</p>
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	&ldquo;One family advised us that prices in direct costs to the resident can cost up to &euro;3,600 for social activities while other homes have no charge,&rdquo; he added.</p>
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	http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/nursing-home-claims-health-official-suggested-passing-funding-cut-on-to-residents-1.1730118</p>
