The eircom dole

Ardmore

According to RTE the Dept of Social Welfare is to extend the "free phone" scheme to residents of nursing homes. There aren't many details, but it sounds like it is expected that the residents will have Eircom install a personal phone in their own room.

Does anyone know if something like this was put out to tender? It seems to me that a nursing home with 20 residents would be better off spending the €5600 a year that the government would provide by getting a PBX in and getting service for the whole home from the lowest bidder. But from the way it's described in the brief RTE report it sounds like it will be up to each individual to sort it out on their own, which will inevitably mean that the vast bulk of the business, and the money, with go to Ton^h^h^h eircom, by default.

MadsL

Presumably because of individualisation of Social Welfare payments. Dept of Social Welfare recognise the phone bill of Mrs Auld Wan but not the phone bill of Restawhiletilyerdie Retirement Community. They are just relaxing the rules on where Mrs Auld Wan lives.

Your point on tender only really comes into play on govt funded nursing homes.

M

Ardmore

Originally posted by MadsL
Your point on tender only really comes into play on govt funded nursing homes.

No, it doesn't (or shouldn't). If the Dept of Social Welfare is going to be paying for 20 telephone lines into any facility, public or private, it should be able to put the contract out for tender.

Never mind the savings to the Dept, don't ignore the impact that such an approach would have on the market place. It would allow much smaller entrants than ESAT and eircom into the market for "bundled" phone services.

LFCFan

since when do our government try to save money? It seems their goal in life is to fcuk everything up so much that everything overruns it's budget by 5000%.

spongebob

Ardmore is right on this one...given the scale of the contracts involved. It should go out to tender

Cork

Does everyboby in a nursing home their own private line?
Does everybody in a hotel have a prive line?

They should have PIN numbers AND and a phone system with various extension numbers.

Free Lines for all in these homes is a waste of money.

The idea however is a good one but it could be implemented better

dahamsta

Over 5,000 Nursing Home Residents To Benefit From New Stay-In-Touch Allowance - Minister For Social And Family Affairs Mary Coughlan TD

03/03/2003

Nursing home residents will be able to keep in touch with their families and families with a new telephone allowance payment from the Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Coughlan TD.

The allowance is being made available to all nursing home residents who have a telephone line in their own name at the nursing home.

It is expected that up to 5,500 people would benefit from this measure which is estimated to cost €1.55million in 2003.

”The telephone allowance was originally introduced to ensure that older people could summons help in an emergency. The qualifying conditions have been subsequently relaxed and led to a change in focus of the scheme to emphasise and encourage social contact and to prevent social exclusion,” said Minister Coughlan.

”The introduction of this allowance to nursing home residents will provide many with a lifeline to the outside world – making contact with their families and friends both easier and cheaper.

”Residents of nursing homes aged 70 and over who do not already have their own telephone line in their nursing home and want to take up the scheme can apply for the allowance through their local social welfare office, “ said the Minister.

The Telephone Allowance, part of the Household Benefits package, is generally available to people living in the State aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test.

The Allowance is also available to carers and people with disabilities under the age of 66 who are in receipt of certain welfare type payments. Since May, 2001 it is available to everyone aged 70 or over regardless of income or household composition.

Nearly 280,000 people currently receive the Telephone Allowance. The expected cost for this year is €78 million. The allowance is credited to individual two-monthly Eircom bills. It is worth up to €281.10 per annum including VAT for each client, covering the line and instrument rental fully with a contribution towards call costs.

pete

apart from the (already pointed out) fact that the lines that de welfare pay rental on are in the name of the individual and not the nursing home - what does this have to do with IOFFL?

Ardmore

Originally posted by dahamsta
Nearly 280,000 people currently receive the Telephone Allowance. .... The allowance is credited to individual two-monthly Eircom bills. It is worth up to €281.10 per annum including VAT for each client, covering the line and instrument rental fully with a contribution towards call costs.

Yup, sounds like a direct state subsidy to a single company to me. And we don't even get a volume discount.

While it might not be practical to it any other way for people living on their own, it seems likely that in some nursing homes it would be practical to use a centralised service.

Ardmore

Originally posted by pete
apart from the (already pointed out) fact that the lines that de welfare pay rental on are in the name of the individual and not the nursing home

Something of a red-herring. It doesn't really matter whose name the phoneline is in, the bill is paid by the taxpayer. If you were offered a free telephone line would you quibble if it didn't come from eircom?

- what does this have to do with IOFFL?

It's just another example of the way eircom is molly-coddled by the state. 15%-20% of all the residential lines in the country are paid for by the Government (aka the taxpayer)? And there's no attempt to use this clout to advance the state of WLL or LLU? That's an IOFFL issue.

Dustaz

Originally posted by Ardmore
And there's no attempt to use this clout to advance the state of WLL or LLU? That's an IOFFL issue.

Err, no its not.

Victor

How about fitting a few lines - they might already be there - (say 1 per 10 residents) to each nursing home and giving them a card each to the value. It means the people get a better service at a lower price. Compete on service, not infrastructure.

MadsL

How about fitting a few lines - they might already be there - (say 1 per 10 residents) to each nursing home and giving them a card each to the value. It means the people get a better service at a lower price. Compete on service, not infrastructure

...better value perhaps, but possibly at the expense of privacy and dignity.

Victor

Originally posted by MadsL
...better value perhaps, but possibly at the expense of privacy and dignity.

Get a phone box! Hang on, the nursing homes probably have them already. And if the nurse regularly changes your colostomy bag, I suspect you don't have many greater things to reveal.