Families throughout the north west who have relatives in nursing homes are being reminded that the Fair Deal scheme has been updated.
Fair Deal provides financial support to people who need long-term residential care.
The amount a person pays towards the cost of nursing home care depends on income and assets.
The HSE for the Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Monaghan, Cavan area points out that no one receiving nursing home care will be negatively impacted by the changes.
The main changes to the scheme are that the 3 year cap is extended to family farms and business assets and the net proceeds of the sale of the family home is subject to the 3 year cap.
The changes to the scheme may affect farmers or business owners availing of nursing home care under Fair Deal; a person in nursing home care who intends to sell their family home; or a person in nursing home care who has already sold their family home.
To calculate the cost of nursing home care, the value of certain assets is only included in financial assessment for 3 years. This is known as the ‘3-year cap’.
Farmers and business owners may also avail of the 3 year cap on family farms and business assets once certain conditions are met.
Information on the changes including who can be a family successor, the process of appointing a family successor and the supporting documents is in Section 5 of the Nursing Home Support Scheme website page at www.hse.ie/nhss.
