Nursing home closures mean 500 fewer beds available

Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland, said there is an underlying issue with how nursing homes are funded. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The nursing home sector is losing almost 500 beds this year with 11 nursing homes shut already and six more now working with the health watchdog Hiqa to end their registration. Industry representatives fear more homes will close in the new year.

The 11 homes which are already closed had a total of 318 beds offering care to residents. Hiqa said two of these homes were not in use when their registration ended meaning that their beds - 32 and 11 respectively - were already out of the system.