The Gazette 1994

GAZETTE

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1994

The Hea l th (Nursing Homes)

Ac t , 1 9 90

Mel Cousins.

By Mel Cousins BL

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.

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Act, 1964 (repealed by this Act) did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

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.

| Registration

of Nursing Homes

| Nursing home means an institution for

the care and maintenance of more than

two dependent persons (i.e. persons

who require assistance with the

activities of daily living by reason of

physical or mental infirmity).

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.

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.

Application for registration is to the

local health board and registration is

for a three year period.

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.

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

iv) 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,

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.

The