The cost of private nursing home beds, which currently range from an average of €871 a week in the east to €520 a week in the northwest, will increase further next year, the Irish Nursing Homes Organisation warned yesterday.
Tadhg Daly, its chief executive, said the cost of accommodation in the homes would increase "significantly" due to increased regulation of the nursing home sector and "increased obligations in terms of standards" on nursing home owners.
He added that the substantial difference in the cost of beds between the east and northwest reflected significantly higher land values, staffing and other costs in the Dublin area.
Furthermore, while there were about 2,000 private nursing home beds vacant across the State - mainly along the western seaboard - he said it was difficult to find a vacant bed in Dublin.
He argued that private nursing home beds were still more economical than keeping older people in acute hospital beds after they had finished their episode of treatment. The vacant beds, he added, should be used to alleviate pressure on hospitals.
He was speaking after the publication of the latest national private nursing home survey, which shows the average turnover of private nursing homes in 2006 varied from €645,834 for homes with less than 25 beds to an average of €2.9 million for homes with 60 beds or more. Mr Daly stressed that almost 60 per cent of turnover went on staff costs while 5.7 per cent went on food.
The survey report states that while bed occupancy rates increased in private nursing homes last year, there was no significant increase in food costs. However, Mr Daly said this was because homes can buy in bulk. In homes in the midlands, the average annual cost of food per patient was about €1,400, while in the east it was about €2,400.
Meanwhile, the report said 14 private nursing homes closed last year, while 16 new ones opened. This led to a net increase of just 187 beds in the private sector last year, compared to an increase of 1,200 beds in the sector the previous year.
The report also states that, on average, 43 per cent of nursing staff in private nursing homes now come from overseas. In the former northern area health board region (north Dublin) some 74 per cent of nursing staff in private nursing homes are from overseas.
Overall, 32 per cent of all staff in the sector come from overseas.
Turning to residents, the report says 88 per cent of occupants of private nursing homes have medium to high dependency levels. More than a third have dementia.
Mr Daly said the debate on care of the older person in the Republic had been "fairly frantic" over the last 12 months. It followed, among other things, the publication of a report into deaths at the Leas Cross private nursing home in north Dublin, which is now closed.
He said he was disappointed that draft national standards for residential care settings for older people recently published by the Department of Health hadn't set down the minimum staffing ratios required in homes. "That's a huge omission," he said.
He also criticised the fact that guidelines have not yet been published on eligibility for improved nursing home subvention rates, which were due to come into effect at the beginning of this year. The HSE said later that the guidelines are due to be published shortly and payments to anyone eligible will be backdated to the beginning of January.
Sean Power, Minister of State at the Department of Health, who attended the publication of the report, said all nursing home inspection reports will be published in due course. "It's not our intention to conceal or hide any of these facts," he said.