Calls for roll-out of elderly care regulation

PROFESSIONAL carers have said a licensing system should be extended nationwide to protect the elderly people they are looking after.

The call came following Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmation it was seeking, for the first time, a tender to provide care direct to senior citizens’ homes in the Dublin area.

Home Instead Senior Care managing director Ed Murphy said by issuing tenders and licensing the sector, the HSE will give relatives peace of mind.

“Up to now there have been no controls in place; no system to check the care being given and no standards. When you have that you have an accident waiting to happen,” he said.

“The tender idea is good because it means our carers would have to go and show their records and prove to the HSE they are doing the job properly.”

The tender will not involve an inspectorate but a HSE spokeswoman said the agency would be able to constantly monitor the service in the Dublin area to ensure standards are being upheld.

“A service level is being imposed whereby strict criteria for inclusion on a panel will include a monitoring process to ensure ongoing standards.

“Ongoing HSE monitoring of the service, evidence of staff training, service level agreements and a quarterly review of the panel are some of these criteria,” the spokesperson said.

Mr Murphy described caring as a rapidly growing industry which, up to now, was self-regulated.

He said the carers, the elderly people and their families would all welcome more formal regulation especially in the wake of the scandalous report on Leas Cross nursing home.

“We have been talking with people in the HSE and I think they realise that this is a really worthwhile services but like everything it has to be monitored.”

Home Instead is one of a small number of similar elderly care businesses that have sprung up in recent years.

It is already employing 150 carers in the Dublin area and a new franchise has recently opened in Cork.

It expects at least six more franchises to open in the next year and to have its brand looking after 3,000 elderly people by the end of the decade.

Noeleen Cronin, who opened the first Home Instead franchise in Cork, said her experience working in the health sector showed her the need for services that allow elderly people to live at home.

“Very often hospitals might want to discharge a patient but cannot do so because there is nobody to care for that person at home. But the people themselves want to go home, they feel happier at home,” said Ms Cronin.

Home Instead Senior Care can be contacted at 106, Acorn Business Campus, Blackrock, Cork.

Tel: [phone].