Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990

Boarding out of persons by health boards.

10.—(1) A health board may in accordance with regulations under this section make and carry out an arrangement for the boarding out in a private dwelling, whether situated within or outside the functional area of the board, of a person to whom this section applies and the arrangement may provide for the payment of all or part of the costs of the boarding out by the board.

(2) (a) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this section and the regulations may, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, provide for—

(i) the inspection of dwellings used or proposed to be used for boarding out persons under this section, and otherwise for the enforcement and execution of the regulations, by the health boards concerned and their officers,

(ii) the supervision by the health boards concerned and their officers of the maintenance, care and welfare of persons boarded out under this section,

(iii) the making of payments, and the amounts thereof, by health boards to persons in respect of the boarding out with them of persons under this section,

(iv) the fixing of the maximum number of persons who may be boarded out in a single dwelling under this section, and

(v) the holding and conduct of interviews (including interviews in private) of persons in a dwelling (including any persons employed in the dwelling) if the health board concerned has reasonable cause to believe that a person boarded out by it under this section in the dwelling is not receiving proper maintenance or care or that due consideration for his welfare is not being given by the person in whose dwelling he is being boarded out.

(b) A person who wilfully obstructs or interferes with a health board or an officer of a health board in the performance of functions under regulations under this section or who fails or refuses to comply with a requirement of a health board or an officer of a health board under such regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

(3) A dependent person shall not be cared for or maintained for profit in a dwelling in which a person is boarded out under this section.

(4) This section is without prejudice to the powers of a health board under section 209 of the Mental Treatment Act, 1945 .

(5) In this section “person to whom this section applies”, in relation to a health board, means a person whose usual place of residence is in the functional area of the board and who, in the opinion of the board, ought, having regard to his means and circumstances, to be boarded out under this section and who consents to be so boarded out.