Nursing home guidelines bid to improve care of elderly

A set of best practice guidelines was today launched to benefit thousands of elderly people nationwide.

Nursing Homes – Nursing Projects revealed 11 policies for the clinical residential care of older people across Ireland.

The voluntary organisation aims to target both private and public nursing homes in promoting a system where care will be audited.

Key areas studied by the group included elder abuse, nutrition, falls prevention, use of restraint, dementia care, personal care, resuscitation and the management of medications, infections and continence.

Since its establishment last year, the body already has gained the support of 78 residential nursing homes, mostly in Dublin and Kildare area.

“This initiative is not a direct response to recent media coverage of a small number of nursing homes – as it had been initiated before this – but it will of course contribute to addressing many of the issues recently raised,” said project manager Eithne Ni Dhomhnaill.

“It began with a small number of people already involved in the care area and ownership of nursing homes. It is essentially about promoting best practice in nursing homes and providing a system where care given to residents will be continually audited.”