LESS THAN a third of public nursing homes have been registered with the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) in advance of a deadline at the end of next month. The homes have had three years to register under Section 69 of the Health Act 2007 and should all be registered by June 30th.
Of the 128 public nursing homes run or funded by the HSE and providing up to 8,000 beds, just 36 have so far registered. Some 391 of 449 private nursing homes have registered.
The Government healthcare budget included plans to cut up to 800 public nursing home beds. Details of where those beds will be cut have not yet been released. At an Oireachtas committee hearing at the end of 2011, Minister for Health Dr James Reilly said some public nursing homes or community nursing units would close. Units with fewer than 50 beds would be difficult to maintain from a financial point of view and as a result of staffing ratios, he said.
He also said community nursing units were coming under pressure as a result of the budgetary situation, staffing issues due to the moratorium on recruitment and as a result of having to meet new standards set by Hiqa.
A spokeswoman for Hiqa said the purpose of registration was to provide assurance to the public that nursing homes and long-stay units were safe, that they comply with the legal regulations and meet the national standards.
“All designated centres for older people, including all public, private and voluntary centres, must be registered with the authority,” she said. “Centres are monitored on an ongoing basis and inspected where necessary to ensure they continue to maintain the standards required to operate and provide a high level of safe care.”
She said homes that were not registered by June 30th were leaving themselves open to criminal prosecution for operating unregistered.
A HSE spokeswoman said, “The HSE is co-operating fully with Hiqa to ensure public facilities are registered by June 30th.”
She said the majority of beds identified for closure were based on “consolidation and reduction of public bed capacity in public long-stay units”.
“A decision to close a unit will only be taken following an extensive consultation process with the clients and staff of the identified long-stay units,” she said.
