The Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has today welcomed the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) decision to make a payment of €8,500 to an elderly woman’s family following its initial refusal of her application for a Home Care Grant (HCG). The HSE had refused the application as the grant had been scrapped. However, the woman’s application had been received by the HSE before the scheme was phased out.
The HCG (a cash grant paid to assist older people to buy in extra care which could not be provided by the HSE) had been a feature of the Home Care Package Scheme* (HCPS) until December 2010. At that point, new national guidelines for the HCPS were published and the payment of cash grants was to be phased out.
The woman, who was from Waterford, made her application in October 2010. She was deemed eligible on financial grounds but her application required an assessment by her General Practitioner (GP) and the Public Health Nurse (PHN) for medical eligibility purposes. Although the medical assessment was completed and the form signed by the GP and the PHN it was not returned by the GP until January 2011. At that stage, the grant had been abolished so the application was refused. While the HSE offered the woman some additional home help hours, her family considered that the cash grant should have been paid as the delay in processing her application was not her fault.
The Ombudsman found that the decision to abolish the grant was not communicated to all of the key stakeholders in a timely way, that no arrangements were in place to track applications received before the cut-off date, and that no appeals process was offered to the applicant.
The Ombudsman is pleased that the HSE accepted his findings and recommendations, and apologised to the family. A payment of €8,500 was made to them in settlement of their complaint. Sadly, the woman passed away in 2013.
*Note for Editors
The HCPS is a set of services provided by the HSE to help an older person to be cared for in their own home. It includes extra services and supports that are over and above the normal community services that the HSE provides directly or through a HSE funded service. It was established to support older people to return home following a hospital stay or to remain at home longer rather than be admitted to hospital or a nursing home. The Ombudsman’s investigation (name TBC) is available on the Ombudsman’s website.
Peter Tyndall will give his first public lecture as Ombudsman and Information Commissioner at 8pm on Wednesday, 19th February in NUI Galway. Members of the public are welcome to attend the event.
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