The nursing shortage crippling healthcare delivery in hospitals will extend to nursing homes unless the Government urgently engages in workforce planning, Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) has warned.

The country’s nursing homes are facing a major shortage of nurses to care for elderly patients over the coming years, a senior medic has warned.

Older people are facing a scarcity of qualified nurses to care for them unless the Government changes its policy on undergraduate education, a leading nursing organisation has warned.