Sir, – The vista outlined by Paul Cullen on the failure of public nursing homes to reach Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) standards is a train that has been coming down the tracks for a long time ("Hiqa adopts 'get tough' stance on nursing homes", Front Page, August 4th).
The possibility of extending the standards deadline to facilitate substandard public nursing homes will only serve to kick the can down the road and sentence the current residents of these homes to stay in inadequate facilities.
Any extension of the standards and facilities deadline would also be patently unfair to private nursing homes, which would not benefit from any extension as they have already invested to meet the Hiqa standards.
The State should not be afforded relief by Hiqa for ignoring this long-identified issue regarding public nursing homes. – Yours, etc,
Dr JONATHON ROTH,
Limerick.