Nursing home body calls for "proper regulations"

The Irish Nursing Homes Organisation (INHO) has welcomed today’s commitment by the Taoiseach to establish an Independent Inspectorate for nursing homes before the end of the year.

However, the chairperson of the INHO, Mr Paul Costello, warned that putting in place proper regulations is equally important.

“An Independent Inspectorate cannot function effectively unless it has clearly defined and rigorous standards by which to measure its inspections”, he said.

He said that the current standards are totally inadequate and are open to variable interpretation.

"In the UK the regulations are much more specific. There a third of the total staff compliment must be qualified nurses, and there must be one care person for every five residents during the day and one for every ten residents at night time.

“Here in Ireland we need that kind of certainty and clarity around the minimum care standards that must apply in all our nursing homes”, Mr Costello added.