It’s time to modernise how we fund care for older persons in Ireland
For too long, the Nursing Home Support Scheme has relied on an outdated “bed, board, and laundry” model, which fails to incorporate essential elements of care that it is meant to fund.
Since 2023, The Alliance Supporting Nursing Homes have been calling on the Government to implement a Cost of Care Model that accurately reflects the real needs of residents and the actual costs of delivering high-quality, person-centred care.
Our proposed Rosetta Model includes
- A base rate for each resident, updated annually in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
- Additional funding linked to each individual’s dependency level, ensuring funding follows the resident, not the facility.
- Further funding support for additional services, specialised models of care, de-congregated settings, and geographical considerations.
© Rosetta Care Limited
This model is fair, transparent, and grounded in the actual cost of providing safe, high-quality care, rather than an outdated funding model that no longer represents the reality of modern nursing home services.
This model ensures that older persons can choose the service that best meets their needs, whether public, private or voluntary, and that their funding for care remains intact and follows them across all services specific to their individual care requirements.
We urge the Government to act now and adopt a funding model that genuinely supports residents, families, and the staff who care for them every day.