An examination of the practices at Irish nursing homes has been launched by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) over fears that some in the sector are engaged in "potential anti-competitive conduct".
In a statement the CCPC said competition law required businesses to act independently in setting the price of the goods or services that they supply and the conditions under which they supply them.
Following media reports suggesting that some nursing homes had considered collective action in a bid to increase their funding, the CCPC said it has been monitoring the situation in the private nursing home sector and, in the past few days, it said it had received information “which raises serious concerns”.
While its examination is in an early stage, the CCPC said that it if found “sufficient grounds” it will proceed to “open an investigation to establish whether a breach of competition law has occurred.”
When asked for more details as to the nature of the information it had received, a spokesman said that because its inquiries were “at an early stage of this examination, it cannot provide any further comment”.
The CCPC is acting in the wake of reports that some nursing home owners had met to consider collective action, including a boycott of the Fair Deal scheme as part of a protest at the fees they receive from the State.
Were such a boycott to proceed it would be in breach of competition law
Nursing Homes Ireland, the umbrella group for nursing homes and the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa)will appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday to address the issue.
Separately, the sector has been dogged by controversy over charges with some nursing home residents asked to pay as much as €20 if they attend religious services and as €100 a week for other activities.
Speaking last week the Ombudsman Peter Tyndall said additional charges imposed by nursing homes were "impoverishing people" and he added that with such charges there was "no transparency, no clarity and no fairness".
He said “all additional charges must be laid out clearly in the contract of care and agreed upon when signing the contract.”
