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Health And Social Service Employees

Volume 226: debated on Monday 7 June 1993

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To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) district nurses, (b) community midwives, (c) health visitors, (d) community psychiatric nurses and (e) practice nurses are or were employed by health and social service boards in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Information on district nurses, community midwives, health visitors and community psychiatric nurses is available on a comparative basis only for the last three years and this is set out in the table. Information on practice nurses is not collected centrally.

The Western health and social services board estimates that at 31 March 1993 72 former residents of the Republic of Ireland were living in private nursing homes in County Fermanagh.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what are the health care obligations of the Western health and social services board and the Department of Health and Social Services in respect of those admitted from the Irish Republic to private nursing homes in County Fermanagh on or before 31 March.

The Department of Health and Social Services and the health and social services boards are responsible for the health care needs of all people who are ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland, regardless of their origin or date of arrival in Northern Ireland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what reciprocal provisions were available at 31 March in the Irish Republic, under EC regulations, of private nursing home accommodation and related health care for those previously resident in Northern Ireland or Great Britain.

European Community regulations allow for health care to be provided to persons moving between member states. The type of treatment and, where appropriate, accommodation to be provided were, at 31 March, and still are, matters for the authorities in the state of residence. Under EC regulations there is an annual reconciliation of costs between the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and this takes account of the cost of health care provided to state pensioners of one country who reside in the other.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many residents from the Irish Republic in private nursing homes in County Fermanagh at 31 March were discharged to these homes directly from Cavan general hospital or other hospitals in the Irish Republic.

The information requested is not collected centrally. The Western health and social services board estimates that at 31 March 1993 21 patients had been admitted directly to private nursing homes from Cavan general hospital.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what is the total cost to the Western health and social services board and the Department of Health and Social Services of maintaining those admitted from the Irish Republic who were resident in private nursing homes at 31 March;(2) what has been the cost of general practitioner care involved in providing health care for those admitted from the Irish Republic who were resident in private nursing homes in County Fermanagh on 31 March.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what has been the extent of hospitalisation required by those admitted from the Irish Republic who were resident in private nursing homes in County Fermanagh at 31 March; and what has been the cost to the Western health and social services board or the Department of Health and Social Services.

The Western health and social services board estimates that for the period 1 April 1992 to 31 March 1993 it cost £32,125 to treat in hospital patients from private nursing homes in County Fermanagh who had previously been resident in the Republic of Ireland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what special hospital equipment has had to be acquired or leased by hospitals in the Western board area in order to treat patients discharged from Cavan general hospital direct to private nursing homes in County Fermanagh; and what has been the cost.

The Western health and social services board purchased a specialist bed at a cost of £752 for a person who had been admitted to hospital from a private nursing home in County Fermanagh. The person had previously lived in the Republic of Ireland.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what extra financial and other resources have been made available to the Western health and social services board for acute hospital, community and family practitioner services, in order to cater for elderly people from the Irish Republic admitted to private nursing homes in County Fermanagh before 1 April; and what future provision will be made.

No additional resources have been allocated to the Western board specifically for the provision of services to such people. Within the total resources—including additional resources for community care—made available to the board for its resident population, it is for the board to determine how best to provide acute hospital and community services for the elderly people concerned. In so far as the provision of family health services is concerned this is demand led and funded accordingly. Future funding for the board will be determined in the context of the many competing demands on the health and personal social services resources at that time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether European Community legislation obliges a unit of management, after 1 April 1993, to provide for and manage the health care needs of those admitted from the Irish Republic to private nursing homes in County Fermanagh, on or before 31 March 1993.

Health and social services boards are obliged under the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972 to provide health care to persons who are ordinarily resident in their areas, regardless of their origin or date of arrival in Northern Ireland. EC legislation does not affect this obligation.