Sir, – I refer to the report (November 9th) regarding the Government's unilateral decision to postpone the deadline for full compliance with the physical environment standards for nursing homes for six years.
The Government’s decision brings into focus both care issues for older people in public nursing homes and the wider issue of discrimination against private nursing homes.
In the first instance, residents in some public nursing homes will have to remain in substandard buildings for up to another six years and this clearly is an unacceptable position. Since 2009 the State knew that their public nursing homes would have to comply with the nursing home standards by July 2015 and failed to act on this notice. Private nursing homes in the main have complied with the national nursing home standards in bringing their facilities to the standard by 2015. It brings into focus a double standard whereby private nursing homes were forced to comply with the national standards by the 2015 deadline and public nursing homes ignored this deadline and now have been afforded a six-year extension by the Government. No matter which way you look at it, it does bring into question the independence of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) in allowing State nursing homes to ignore the 2015 deadline and this does not bode well for other sectors where the private sector and State operate in the same regulated healthcare area.
As a result of this postponement I would have reservations in recommending an older person accept the offer of a public nursing home bed. – Yours, etc,
Dr JONATHON ROTH,
Limerick.