100 nursing homes required for rising numbers in long-term care

Up to 100 new nursing homes will be needed in the next seven years to cater for older people needing long-term residential care.

A report for Nursing Home Ireland by chartered accountants BDO predicts a shortfall of 4,208 long-term residential beds by 2016, rising to 7,986 by 2021. This equates to between 53 and 100 nursing homes.

The report finds that demand for nursing home beds is now exceeding supply in parts of the country, with the gap rapidly widening.

It warns that the decision to divert funds from the nursing home sector to home-care packages will result in longer waiting lists for residential care.

Of particular concern is the significant growth in the 85-plus age group in the years ahead, with more than one in five needing long-term residential care.

Nursing Home Ireland chief executive Tadhg Daly said significant investment is urgently required.

“The political expediency associated with cutting financial support for the Nursing Home Support Scheme (Fair Deal) runs the risk of real long-term damage to Ireland’s capacity to care for our growing ageing population,” he warned.

Mr Daly said older people must be able to access nursing home care in a timely manner.

The report says Ireland has, relative to other European countries, an extremely low number of long-term beds per 1,000 of the population.

Because of this shortage, people needing residential care will be forced to seek care in acute hospitals. The report says the cost of providing care in an acute hospital is up to eight times the cost of providing nursing home care, either publicly or privately.

The nursing home sector provides long-term residential care for more than 27,000 people in public, private, and voluntary beds.

Home and Community Care Ireland, which represents private home-care organisations, questioned the argument made in the report for more funding in residential care when residency rates were already around 30% higher than the European average.

Group chairman Michael Harty said up to €69m could be saved with more cost-effective home-care packages for patients with low to medium dependency needs.