Call for tighter laws on nursing homes

New calls have been made for a change in legislation governing Irish nursing homes.

The Irish Nursing Home Organisation today published a detailed minimum standards position paper which would ensure proper care for all residents.

The document "Higher Standards, Better Care" sets down minimum standards of care for the elderly.

Slamming current laws as “totally inadequate and outdated“, Tadhg Daly, Chief Executive of the INHO is urging the Department of Health to take note of his findings when framing new legislation.

“Care of the elderly needs to be a political priority,” he said.

“We were promised up to date legislation in 2005 it has not yet been delivered.

“Not only has care of the elderly been historically under funded in Ireland, the current legislation (1990 Nursing Homes Act) has not been reviewed for 15 years.

“Nursing Home proprietors and staff are the experts in this area. We consulted with the groups who care for the elderly to produce this paper. It is critical that there is movement in terms of introducing legislation and minimum standards.”

The paper is being published less than a year after sub-standard care and patient neglect was unveiled at Leas Cross nursing home in Swords, Co Dublin.

Issues scrutinised by the INHO include individual care plans, continuous staff training, accreditation, the appointment of an independent regulator and minimum staffing levels and care standards which currently specify having one registered nurse on duty regardless of the size of the nursing home and around one care worker per eight residents giving just 2.4 care hours per resident per day.

Mr Daly said although being the only organisation in Ireland to set down detailed minimum standards of care, it has been excluded from the current consultation process which is under way, despite promises from the Minister of State for Health in June 2005 that they would be included.

He added: “The public sector, which accounts for 40% of all long-term beds, is not currently subject to legislative control and is not inspected. We believe that all nursing homes, both public and private, should be inspected under new, updated legislation, and subjected to the same set of standards.”

It is predicted by the year 2021, the population of the state over 75 years old will rise to almost 300,000 from the current 190,000 with demand for long-stay facilities increasing to 40,000 from the current 26,000.

The INHO is currently undertaking research to establish what is a fair price for care for residents in nursing homes and plans to publish its findings very shortly.