Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2001

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Amendment of Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990.

3.—The Health (Nursing Homes) Act, 1990 , is hereby amended—

(a) in section 6, by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6):

“(7) Regulations under this section may—

(a) make different provision for different classes of nursing homes, and

(b) prescribe different requirements for different classes of nursing homes.”,

and

(b) in section 7, by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) (a) The Minister may by regulations specify the amounts that may be paid by health boards under this section and such amounts may be specified by reference to specified degrees of dependency, specified means or circumstances of dependent persons or such other matters as the Minister considers appropriate.

(b) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), regulations under this section may make provision in relation to—

(i) the making of applications to health boards for payments under this section,

(ii) the particulars to be contained in applications for such payments and the procedure for and in relation to such applications,

(iii) the furnishing by applicants for payments under this section of information specified or requested by health boards in relation to the means and dependency of persons in respect of whom the payments are being sought and the holding of interviews by officers of health boards with such persons or persons acting on their behalf for the purposes of obtaining such information,

(iv) the assessment by health boards of the degree of dependency and the means and circumstances of persons in respect of whom payments are being sought,

(v) the periodic review by each health board of payments made by it under this section and the procedure for and in relation to such reviews,

(vi) the specification of the conditions and circumstances for the making of payments under this section and for their reduction, withdrawal or discontinuance,

(vii) the furnishing by registered proprietors or persons in charge of nursing homes of information in regard to the death or discharge of persons in receipt of payments under this section,

(viii) the specification of the conditions and circumstances for the recovery by health boards of payments made by them under this section,

(ix) the specification of the forms of maintenance for which payments can be made by health boards, and

(x) appeals to an officer of a health board against a decision of the health board to refuse, withdraw or discontinue a payment under this section and the procedure for and in relation to such appeals.

(c) In paragraph (b), references to a health board include references to the Eastern Regional Health Authority and an Area Health Board (within the meaning of the Health (Eastern Regional Health Authority) Act, 1999 ).”,

and

(c) by the substitution of the following section for section 14: