by Susan Mitchell Sunday Business Post

Twenty-nine nursing homes have closed their doors since the start of July 2009. Figures provided by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), which inspects nursing homes and keeps a register of approved providers, show that all the nursing homes that closed were privately owned.

It is understood that some ran into financial difficulty, while other operators did not have the money to fund an improvement in standards demanded by Hiqa.

Nine were closed after Hiqa started the process of having them delisted, with the authority going to court in five of those cases due to serious concerns about the safety of residents.

Hiqa chief executive Tracey Cooper said the public should not deduce that private nursing homes were providing “inferior care”. She said the issue was “considerably more complex”.

Last week, it emerged that the HSE may close up to 900 beds in community nursing homes around the country. The HSE said it would use more private providers to house elderly people under the Fair Deal nursing home scheme. The HSE is also considering using external operators to deliver nursing home care in publicly-owned nursing units.

Last week, HSE chief Cathal Magee said using more external operators was “something that will be a key part of our negotiations and discussions within the Croke Park agreement framework”. There are 579 designated nursing homes around the country, 118 of which are publicly owned.

Patrick Brennan
Director of Corporate Business
Irish Health Insurance

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