Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly T.D. and the Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler T.D., have today announced new funding of €42 million for private and voluntary nursing homes to help them respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The €42 million will be used to extend the Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme (TAPS) to the end of June 2021. TAPS was established to provide financial assistance to contribute towards the costs incurred by private nursing homes in acting to suppress and manage COVID-19. The total amount available through the scheme from March 2020 to June 2021 is up to €134.5 million.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented challenge across our health services with a significant impact on nursing homes. The priority focus is to ensure that our nursing home residents are protected.
A range of initiatives have been introduced by the Department of Health and the HSE to support nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
• €134.5 million in funding for the Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme.
• Serial testing of all staff of nursing homes on a fortnightly basis. Since July 265,886 tests have been completed in 574 facilities.
• The provision of precautionary PPE and enhanced PPE in the event of an outbreak.
• Temporary accommodation for some nursing home staff to manage the number of contacts that they are exposed to.
• 23 COVID-19 Response Teams have been set up to provide multi-disciplinary supports and expert advice in the event of an outbreak.
• HSE staff redeployed to alleviate staff shortages.
• Access to HSE training and education services.
Minister Donnelly said: “I would like to thank nursing home staff and providers for their effort and commitment throughout what continues to be a trying time. Evidence shows that increased community transmission can lead to increased infection rates in nursing homes. We must slow the spread of COVID-19 throughout our communities in order to protect our vulnerable citizens, including those in long term residential care.
“We know that the impact of COVID-19 and public health measures have been very tough on residents and their families. Many nursing home staff have gone above and beyond to care for their patients during this pandemic. The Government has implemented significant and necessary supports to protect nursing homes, their staff and residents in recent months. This includes the Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme, which offers crucial financial support to nursing homes as they respond to COVID-19. I am glad to extend this scheme today until June, and trust that this will continue to make real difference in enhancing the level of care that nursing homes are able to provide in the coming months.”
Joining Minister Donnelly in welcoming the extension and expansion of the Scheme, Minister Butler said: “The continued need for the Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme and other non-financial supports is clear as the pandemic very much remains a feature of all of our lives. However, as well as providing immediate support to private and voluntary nursing homes, it is important to keep the longer-term picture in mind, to ensure that the actions taken now will be aimed at generating lasting improvements in how residents are cared for.”
“I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the considerable efforts and resources invested by the HSE in a responsive way to support residents in public, private and voluntary nursing homes. The supports established such as the COVID-19 Response Teams, clinical support, the supply of nearly €60 million of PPE free of charge to private nursing homes, and the critical serial testing programme contribute substantially to protecting residents during the pandemic.”
Note for Editor –
TAPS Scheme
The TAPS scheme was originally established to support private and voluntary nursing home sector in the early months of the pandemic and has now been extended to June 2021 to continue that support.
There are two components to the scheme:
1. A monthly support payment based on additional cost experienced by nursing homes because of COVID-19
2. Enhanced assistance in the event of a nursing home actively managing an outbreak
The Temporary Assistance Payment Scheme has now been updated to allow nursing homes to apply for funding to implement the recommendations of the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel.
This will provide private and voluntary nursing homes with support to make tangible progress with implementing those recommendations and will, ultimately, keep residents safer during this challenging winter period.
Since the TAPS Scheme was put in place, the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel was established and issued its report in August. This report contains a number of recommendations, many of which are for implementation by private and voluntary nursing homes. The Scheme’s terms and conditions are now being amended to allow those nursing homes to include claims for costs relating to the implementation of those recommendations.
Nursing Homes
• The central focus of the response to COVID-19 has been to control the spread of the virus in so far as possible to protect those who are most vulnerable from infection, as well as protecting against causes, situations, circumstances, and behaviours that may lead to the spread of COVID-19.
• Residents of nursing homes are vulnerable because of their age, underlying medical conditions, the extent of their requirement for direct care involving close physical contact and the nature of living in congregated settings.
• The very infectious nature of COVID-19 makes it difficult to prevent and control in residential care settings. The transmission of the virus into and within nursing homes is multifactorial. As identified by the Nursing Homes Expert Panel, where there is ongoing community transmission, settings like nursing homes are more vulnerable to exposure.
• While nursing homes were particularly impacted by COVID-19, many remained COVID-19 free and many who did experience an outbreak managed very well.
• The State’s responsibility to respond to the public health emergency created the need for the HSE to stand up a structured support system in line with NPHET recommendations. This has been a critical intervention in supporting the resilience of the sector in meeting the unprecedented challenges associated with COVID-19.
• These supports remain in place and have encompassed:
o Enhanced HSE engagement
o Temporary HSE governance arrangements
o Multidisciplinary clinical supports at CHO level through 23 COVID-19 Response Teams
o Access to supply lines for PPE, medical oxygen
o Provision by the HSE of precautionary and outbreak management PPE
o Serial testing in nursing homes
o Access to staff from community and acute hospitals
o Suite of focused guidance, including comprehensive guidance on visiting nursing homes - the latest version of which now fully aligns with the 5-level framework
o Temporary Assistance Payments Scheme: €92.5m to the end of 2020, with funding of €42m secured through Estimates process for first 6 months of 2021.
o Temporary accommodation to nursing home staff
HIQA’s COVID-19 quality assurance regulatory framework.