The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1994

The Hea l th (Nursing Homes) Ac t , 1 9 90

By Mel Cousins BL

Application for registration is to the local health board and registration is for a three year period. 8 A person who proposes to carry on a home may apply to the board for a declaration that he or she is a suitable person to do so. 9 This can only be refused if he or she has been convicted of an offence under the 1990 Act (or the preceding 1964 legislation) or any other offence 'such as to render the person unfit to carry on a nursing home' or where the person fails or refuses to provide the board with requested information or provides it with information which is false or misleading in a material respect.'" The board can only refuse to register a home or remove it from the register it if it is of the opinion that" i) the premises do not comply with the Regulations under the Act, or ii) the carrying on of the home is or will not be in accordance with the Regulations, or if iii) the proprietor or person in charge has been convicted of an offence under the 1990 Act (or the preceding 1964 legislation) or any other offence 'such as to render the person unfit to carry on a nursing home', or provide the board with requested information or provides it with information which is false or misleading in a material respect, or v) the proprietor of a registered home has, within the last year, contravened the conditions of registration imposed by the board under section 4(8). If the board proposes to refuse or revoke conditions to registration, it must notify the person involved and give reasons for its proposals. 12 The iv) the person fails or refuses to

TheJIealth (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990 has been brought into force from 1 September 1993.' This article considers the existing situation concerning nursing home care and subventions and the provisions of the new Act and Regulations. 2 j The position concerning the legal regulation of nursing homes and | entitlement to public nursing home care in Ireland has been very confused. There has been no legal ; requirement that nursing homes be registered, although the Health (Homes for Incapacitated Persons) Act, 1964 (repealed by this Act) did set out certain rules concerning the operation of nursing homes and their regulation by health boards. As concerns entitlement to public nursing home care, there has been a considerable difference between the services that people have legally been entitled to and what has been provided in practice 1 and there has been no J standardised system for assessing j entitlements to public care or to nursing home grants. The 1990 Act and Regulations are intended to clarify both the legal and practical position, to introduce a I registration system for nursing homes | and to provide a system for assessing entitlement to public nursing home care and/or subventions towards the costs of care in a private nursing home. These provisions at least clarify the system in practice. However, there remains a major question mark over the legal position concerning ; entitlement to care.

Mel Cousins.

who require assistance with the activities of daily living by reason of physical or mental infirmity). 1 Various institutions are excluded from this definition such as 'mental institutions', 'maternity homes' and institutions where the majority of patients are priests or members of religious orders. 5 All nursing homes must be registered by the local health board which must keep a list of registered nursing homes." This list must be available to the public free of charge. This is a new provision as, under the previous legislation, nursing homes were only obliged to notify the health board of their operation. Section 3 of the 1990 Act provides that a person shall not carry on a nursing home unless the home is registered and the person is the registered proprietor thereof. It is not a criminal offence to operate an unregistered nursing home per se. However, where a registered nursing home commences to be carried on by a person other than the registered proprietor, the home ceases to be registered and it is an offence for the person who takes over the carrying on of the home not to apply for registration within four weeks of commencement. 7

| Registration of Nursing Homes

| Nursing home means an institution for the care and maintenance of more than two dependent persons (i.e. persons

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