Nursing homes fear closures over HIQA costs

OWNERS of private nursing homes have warned that some facilities may close due to the high cost of meeting new quality standards imposed by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

Nursing Homes Ireland, the representative body of the country’s 447 private nursing homes, revealed yesterday that the sector has spent more than €35m on its facilities and operations to comply with HIQA standards since formal inspections began in July 2009.

NHI also complained that public nursing homes were receiving on average over €500 more in weekly bed rates than their private counterparts from the National Treatment Purchase Fund.