<p>
	About half 70,000 thought eligible applied for refund of fee paid between 1976 and 2004</p>
<p>
	The final cost of the repayment scheme for people illegally charged for nursing home care dating back to the 1970s will be about &euro;486 million, the D&aacute;il public accounts committee has been told.</p>
<p>
	This is half the cost forecast when the Health Repayment Scheme was set up in 2006.</p>
<p>
	About 70,000 people were considered eligible to apply for reimbursement of charges they were forced to pay between 1976 and 2004, but in the end only 35,000 applications were received.</p>
<p>
	The charges were halted in 2004 after the Attorney General warned that it was illegal to charge medical-card holders for a place in a public nursing home.</p>
<p>
	The HSE says patients may not have applied for the scheme because of &ldquo;taxation and Revenue Commissioners issues&rdquo;, satisfaction with the care they received or the absence of a next of kin.</p>
<p>
	Almost 22,000 of the applicants received an offer but 13,500 were rejected. Many of these were in a private nursing home.</p>
<p>
	Though the deadline for applications was in 2007, the scheme allowed for further payments to be made. HSE director general Tony O&rsquo;Brien said a timeframe for closing the scheme had yet to be agreed.</p>
<p>
	The scheme provided for the creation of a donations fund to pay for improvements in public health services for older people and those with disabilities. However, just 212 donations have been made to date, with a total value of &euro;348,000.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	Children&rsquo;s hospital</p>
<p>
	Meanwhile, the rising cost of the proposed national children&rsquo;s hospital at St James&rsquo;s is to be examined by the public accounts committee and by the Oireachtas health committee.</p>
<p>
	Sinn F&eacute;in deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said it was &ldquo;absolutely shocking&rdquo; the hospital was likely to be the most expensive children&rsquo;s hospital ever built. The committee had an obligation to thoroughly examine the cost of the project, which is expected to cost about &euro;1 billion.</p>
<p>
	The committee is also to raise with the HSE the non-payment of salaries to some staff at the former suicide charity Console, after it went into liquidation.</p>
<p>
	Public accounts committee chairman Se&aacute;n Fleming said the HSE&rsquo;s position was technically correct as it was not strictly liable for unpaid salaries but &ldquo;it isn&rsquo;t good enough&rdquo;.</p>
<p>
	Ms McDonald said the staff had been brushed off and this was doubly unacceptable as the situation arose partly because of the HSE&rsquo;s failure to properly monitor the charity, which closed following a financial scandal.</p>
<p>
	&nbsp;</p>
<p>
	(Published by the Irish Times on the 10th March 2017)</p>
<p>
	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/repayments-of-illegal-nursing-home-charge-to-cost-486m-1.3004590">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/repayments-of-illegal-nursing-home-charge-to-cost-486m-1.3004590</a></p>
