SIX NURSING homes have closed since the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) began inspecting nursing homes a year ago, new figures show.
Hiqa took over responsibility for the inspection of all nursing homes, both public and private, on July 1st last year and, since then, the authority has cancelled the registration of one nursing home, Glenbervie Nursing Home in Bray, Co Wicklow, and another five homes have all notified the authority that they are closing.
These include Villa Maria del Mar Nursing Home in Barna, Co Galway; Olde School Nursing Home in Skibbereen, Co Cork; Carraig Tuir in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford; St Louis in Co Monaghan; and Riverview Nursing Home in Trim, Co Meath.
Under the current legislation, homes must notify Hiqa before closing down.
Hiqa took Glenbervie Nursing Home to court in order to secure its deregistration in April after inspectors expressed grave concerns at the lack of risk management in place at the home.
At least two of the other five homes that have closed have done so in the wake of Hiqa reports.
These two – Riverview Nursing Home and St Louis in Monaghan – were both smaller homes that would have struggled to carry out the changes required to comply with Hiqa regulations.
The proprietor of Riverview Nursing Home, Donna Quinn, told Hiqa that due to the small number of residents it had it would not be financially viable to carry out seven changes required to meet Hiqa guidelines.
She said: “This decision is not an easy one and we have tried for several months to come up with a plan that will allow us overcome the changes that are necessary to comply with the Hiqa standards.
“Financially it is not possible to make the necessary changes with the small number of residents that we can accommodate in Riverview,” Ms Quinn said.
St Louis looked after 16 nuns, all of whom were in their late 80s and 90s. It was run on a non-profit basis and would have been unable to implement the 22 recommendations Hiqa required following an inspection of the facility.
In April it was reported most of the staff at Carraig Tuir private nursing home had not been paid for a number of weeks and their jobs were in jeopardy.
Details of the homes closures were provided by Minister of State with responsibility for older people Áine Brady in a reply to a parliamentary question put down by Fine’s Gael’s health spokesman, Dr James Reilly.
Hiqa said yesterday it had closed just one home and was aware of the closure of the other five but there could also be others.
The HSE, for example, also recently signalled its intention to close Loughloe House Nursing Home in Athlone, despite local protests.