INMO welcomes plan to refurbish public nursing homes

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has welcomed the Government's revised plans to refurbish public nursing homes, which involve postponing the deadline for full compliance with standards by six years.

Scores of State-run nursing homes, many of them in older institutional buildings, are in breach of strict new standards imposed by the Health Information and Quality Authority since last July.

Last month’s budget saw the allocation of over €300 million for refurbishing the homes under the current capital plan, but this is far less than is required.

As a result, the Government has agreed a revised policy and revised timeframe which will see the deadline for compliance with environmental standards pushed back to 2021.

The INMO said there was “no alternative” due to the pressure to maintain all available long stay and nursing home beds. “Public long term care facilities remain an essential part of our overall health service, and we cannot afford to lose any further bed capacity.”

Nursing Homes Ireland, which represents the owners of private facilities, reacted angrily to the announcement, accusing the Government of political interference with independent regulation.

"This is shocking and unacceptable on a number of levels. Most of all it is shocking for up to 7,000 older people living in the 100+ public nursing homes that do not meet the national physical environment standards," said chief executive Tadhg Daly.

“It is appalling that our Government consider it acceptable that the older people in some public nursing homes should be consigned to live in physical environments that are not fit for purpose for a further six years.”

Hiqa, which has been issuing homes with substandard facilities with notice to close unless improvements are made, said it was a statutory agency bound by Government policy.

It expressed disappointment that the standards have not been met in some nursing homes, but welcomed the commitment to invest in nursing homes as announced in the budget.

“Our work plans and business objectives are informed by a variety of factors, including Government policy, and any change in Government policy will be reflected in the conduct of our legal mandate, however our focus of ensuring that the people using the services we regulate are safe remains unchanged.”