Committee Reports::Report - Appropriation Accounts 1965 - 1966::14 July, 1967::Appendix


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APPENDIX VI.

EXPENDITURE ON DISABLED PERSONS ALLOWANCES BY CORK HEALTH AUTHORITY AND DUBLIN HEALTH AUTHORITY

Under Section 50 of the Health Act, 1953, and the Regulations made thereunder Disabled Persons Allowances are paid by Health Authorities to disabled persons—

(1) over 16 years of age who are unable to provide for their own maintenance and whose spouse, son, daughter or parent, or any brother or a sister normally resident with the disabled person are unable to provide maintenance for them, and

(2) who are not maintained in an institution.

No specific rules are prescribed for determining eligibility on grounds of means. As regards disability, the Regulations refer to

“a specified disability (which) is, in the opinion of the chief medical officer of the health authority or of any other medical officer of the health authority authorised by that authority to examine persons applying for or in receipt of maintenance allowances, substantially handicapped in undertaking work of a kind which, if he were not suffering from that disability, would be suited to his age, experience and qualifications.”

In the operation of a scheme of this nature there is, inevitably, room for variation as between Health Authorities in the standards they apply for the purpose of determining entitlement of an applicant relative to means or disability.

As these allowances are not payable to persons, otherwise eligible, who are maintained in institutions, the number of persons in receipt of allowances and the expenditure thereon may be affected by the availability of suitable institutional accommodation in Health Authority areas and the attitude of disabled persons and their relatives towards using it.

That the expenditure on Disabled Persons Allowances in the Cork area exceeds that in the Dublin area is not a new feature of the scheme, is illustrated by the following figures:—

Year		Cork Health Authority		Dublin Health Authority
Year		Expenditure	Number	Expenditure	Number
		£		£
1959-60	..	112,000	2,252	74,000	1,529
1960-61	..	112,000	2,120	75,000	1,546
1961-62	..	122,000	2,159	80,000	1,545
1962-63	..	125,000	2,133	86,000	1,565
1963-64	..	136,000	2,169	94,000	1,605
1964-65	..	171,000	2,270	120,000	1,667
1965-66	..	217,000	2,333	160,000	1,768

The following table is an analysis of the expenditure relative to numbers of recipients and population for the year 1965-66, distinguishing the “city” and “country” portions of the Cork and Dublin Health areas.

Area			Expenditure	Number of recipients	Average weekly rate of Allowance	Population (1966 Census)	Number per 1,000 pop
Cork County Boro			51,348	588	1·69	122,066	4·82
Rest of County Cork			166,025	1,745	1·83	217,459	8·25
Total		..	217,373	2,333	1·79	339,525	6·87
Dublin County Boro and Dun Laoire			142,205	1,582	1·73	619,379	2·55
Rest of County
Dublin	..	..	17,622	186	1·82	174,411	1·07
Total		..	159,827	1,768	1·74	793,790	2·23

The above figures indicate that there is no significant difference in the average weekly rate of allowance paid in both areas. In Cork County Borough the number of cases per 1,000 population is 4·82 as compared with 2·55 in Dublin City and Dun Laoire. It would not be possible, without a great deal of detailed enquiry, to establish a correlation between these figures and the relevant social circumstances in the areas, but it is reasonable to assume that in the larger city the greater diversity of employment opportunities enables a higher proportion of partially disabled persons to be self-supporting. This position is more clearly apparent in a comparison of the figures for the population outside the city areas. The number of cases in the Cork Health Authority area, exclusive of the City, is 8·25 per 1,000 of population while in Dublin the corresponding figure is 1·07. In the area of the Cork Health Authority 64% of the population is outside the City, while in the Dublin Health Authority area all but 22% of the population are resident in the City.

(Signed) P. S. Ó MUIREADHAIGH,

Accounting Officer,

18 Aibreán, 1967.

Department of Health.